Latest / The Healthy Diabetic / #171: Embracing Intentional Diabetes Goal-Setting In 2024

Transcript

#171: Embracing Intentional Diabetes Goal-Setting In 2024 · The Healthy Diabetic

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Healthy Diabetic Podcast.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to your diabetes management.
• 0:36
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• 0:39
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• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I appreciate every single one of you for continuing to listen every single week, showing up for these conversations, these topics.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I really hope that you are getting value out of this podcast.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Send me an email, shoot me a message on Instagram, facebook and let me know how you are enjoying these topics and conversations, and send me some topics that you'd love to hear.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: What would you love to hear me talk about?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: What are maybe some things that you are struggling with?
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Or maybe there's some really cool things that you're doing in your diabetes management that you would love to share.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I would love to tell your story.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So just reach out to me and I'd love to connect with you.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So this is going to be a solo episode today.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I got some really good guests coming on in the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to leave you guys with this topic of diabetes goals 2024 diabetes goals.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Have you set some?
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: What are they?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about this because I think this is an important piece at the beginning of 2024.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: We just left 2023 in the rearview mirror and a lot of times we put together resolutions.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I'm going to explain why I don't like the word resolution, why I don't like resolutions, and we're going to talk about goal setting and that might not be super sexy, but that's okay because this is an important topic and I hope that when I give you my perspective on goals and how I think about goals and things I want to accomplish, not just in the podcast or in my diabetes manager, but also in life that hopefully that will spark some thought processes for you to set some real good diabetes goals.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: So let's get into this.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: First, I want to talk to you about this thought process of resolution, because we all make these resolutions for at the beginning of each year and if you look at the stats the last time I look at the statistics of how many people actually stick with their resolution, either throughout the whole entire year or even up to 90 days I think the the stat is like less than 25% and that makes me really sad because Whether you're doing a fitness goal, whether you have a fitness resolution, whether you have a diabetes resolution, whether you have a personal resolution or maybe a career resolution, something that you want to achieve over the next 90 days or over this whole entire year.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: The problem with this concept of resolution is that we're not hyper focused on that resolution with exact intention.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: There's too much of a start and stop date, and I know you've probably listened to me talk about diets and how I don't like the word diet because it only has a start and stop date.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: This is no different right when you make a resolution or when you make a goal.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, it's going to have a start and stop date, no matter what the goal is, because you're focused on one specific outcome for that specific goal.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: But you need to make sure that you are making that goal or that resolution with intention.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: What is the intention or the why behind that goal, behind that resolution?
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: That's a very important thing.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Now, why do we make goals?
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Why do we make resolutions at the beginning of each year?
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Why do we make goals at all at any point of the year?
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Why is that important?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Well, it's really important because goals can give us clarity, it can give us direction, it can give us motivation towards something that we want to accomplish, whether it's again fitness, whether it's diabetes related, whatever it is.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: It gives us clarity, direction and motivation to actually do that thing that we want to accomplish, instead of me just waking up and following the societal norms every single year and say I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to get in shape.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: That's what everyone does, right?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I have a resolution for myself that I want to exercise more and have more intention around exercise.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I'm a coach.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I know how important exercise is for the body, for our blood sugars, for diabetes, but I still, at the end of the day, only exercise two or three days a week.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: But when I'm actually exercising, those two or three days have real intention to them.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I'm working hard in a specific manner towards being the person that I want to be.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: However, with that specific intention of that two or three days, it's not a priority in the back of my head, and I used to love exercise.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I used to be a three sport athlete in college, where I would play football in the fall as a varsity sport and then I'd play intramural sports all winter long.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I'd play intramural sports all spring and I'd be in the gym, exercising with my buddies every single day, and it was the most amazing therapeutic thing I was doing in my life.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: At that time, going to class was definitely not therapeutic, and I'm telling you this story because it's important to have intention behind things that you do in your life.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Now let's look at diabetes, because when we think about diabetes, you hear me talking about all time.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Intention is important the why behind something that you're doing, the why behind your blood sugars and looking at your CGM graphs and your data, and understanding how to look at that data and interpret it and understand what was going on.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: When your blood sugars spiked three hours ago, what did you do?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Was it food related?
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Was it stress related?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Are you sick?
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Do you have a bad sight?
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many things that could be happening in that scenario and that situation, but understanding that, the intention behind looking at that CGM data, the intention behind understanding why your blood sugars are out of whack, is important.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I know that pizza spikes my blood sugar.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: If I don't hold their exact right strategy to combat those blood sugars, I know that's going to happen.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: So if I'm laxadaisical with that strategy, then I'm going to have high blood sugars, and I have no one to blame for those high blood sugars than myself.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It's really freaking hard.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Are you picking yourself up and like learning from that and figuring out some other strategy?
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: It's the same thing with any type of blood sugar regulation that's going on in your life.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: So that's a big rant.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: But going back to this thought process of diabetes goals, what is your diabetes goal and are you making that goal with intention?
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So when I sat down and looked at my 2024 diabetes goals, the first thing I thought about is probably the first thing if you have done this exercise that you thought about and I want to lower my A1C to under 6.0.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Because that's a good goal for me.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: That's a goal that I have for myself, but that's not where I should be starting.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: What are the things that are going to do?
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Help me in a positive way, bring that down.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Well, it's being more strategic and being and having more intention behind some of the things that I do every single day with my diabetes management.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Just got through the holidays.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you that this holiday season was one of the I don't want to say worst, but it was not great on my blood sugars.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't great in my blood sugars because I was so Burnt out.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I'm so burnt out with everything that's going on in my life Not burnt out on diabetes, but I'm burnt.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I was burnt out on everything that's going on in my life the podcast being a dad getting up at four o'clock, 4 30 every single day and going to the gym and Training clients from 5 30 am To 1 pm and then leaving the gym and then doing work for my Diabetes online coaching brand, and just it was just became a lot.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: So I decided that over the holidays, I was going to just be laxadaisical not laxadaisical with my management.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I still was pre-bolsing, I still was working Hard to continue to not have insulin or should blood sugar spikes, but they happened and they happened in a ways that they haven't happened in a while and that and I think that those that's okay.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: That is okay if that happens to you at any point in the year.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Now that I've gotten through the holidays, now it's time to buckle that back down and get back to the things that I do very, very well, which is being intense, intentional and asking myself why and focusing on what really works for me.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to now start doing, going into this new year and ultimately being able to be hyper focused on those things Is how I'm going to lower my a1c Down under 6.0.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: On a personal level, I'm really pumped to start teaching my girls about diabetes, and I say that because I Think family is so important to us.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: It provides us emotional support.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Again, if you've heard me talk anything about support, emotional support from our friends or family members, of people really really close to us, is very important because they can.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: They can provide that promotional support for us every single day.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: They don't provide the same support as the diabetes community does, but they still provide a big time support and I'm excited to start teaching my daughters About diabetes.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I'm excited for them to start taking part in my diabetes management and learning how I manage my diabetes.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: So, if God forbid, they ever diagnosed we already have built the foundations for their education.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: They're learning.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Those are my big diabetes goals.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: The a1c is a byproduct of everything that you do day by day.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: If you are someone that is hyper focused on that number, I'm not saying that you are wrong by doing that, because you are not.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: What I am saying.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: If you can learn to shift your thought process, to being able to look at the things that you do every day Trends, whatever they might be.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Look at your CGM data.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: If you don't, if you're not on a CGM, get on one, please, please, get on one.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: I do not care which one you go on there.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I think there's three or four Different types of continuous glucose monitors out there, but it doesn't matter to me, because that data is very, very powerful and it helps you develop the management style that you you want.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: So much goes into that A1C number and I don't want you to feel like you have to be hyper-focused, in a positive way or a negative way, on that number.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: If your A1C is over seven, if it's at nine, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, I don't care where it is.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: First off, you can get it to where you want to be.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: You have to ask yourself where you want it to be and then go from there.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Secondly, if it is a higher A1C, do not let anybody tell you that you are not in a good space or you're non-compliant.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: That's not the case.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: All you need is some more education to develop your own strategy, which is what I'm here for, which other the diabetes community is here to help you for or help you with.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: That is our goal.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Do not be hyper-focused on what the number says.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Be hyper-focused on how to lower the number.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: That's what this is about.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I hope this aligns with some of your thought processes.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I hope this.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Hopefully, you can take this information and start thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2024.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I think it's an important thing to make some diabetes goals.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: The duration of them, no matter what it is.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: If it's A1C, cool.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: If it is A1C and that's your ultimate goal is to lower your A1C, great.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: We have to work backwards from there and figure out how we're going to do that.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: If you have a high A1C and you want to lower your A1C, the things that you're doing right now are getting in your way.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: The things that you're doing right now need to be improved upon in terms of your management style, because what you're doing right now is probably not working.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: It might be Maybe you're on the right track right now and your A1C is dropping already.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: But if you're not, then we need to take a step back and figure what isn't working and how can we ultimately improve the things that aren't working.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Do you know how to improve the things that aren't working?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: We know we shouldn't eat processed food and tons of sugar and a bunch of carbohydrates in one sitting.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: We know that we should pre-bolus.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: We know we should count carbs and be as specific and intentional with that carb counting as possible, as accurate as possible.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: We know we should do those things.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: But if you're someone that's constantly on the go if you're maybe a nurse or a doctor that's that constantly is on the go and you don't have tons of time to eat and you're not getting enough calories or whatever it might be if you're a young athlete and you can't figure out practice or competition, those are things that might sound crazy but those are things that you have to constantly fail at and try new things to figure it out.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Because I can tell you I can tell you why I think this could help.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: But until we actually get in this situation and try to work through that, we don't know if that's gonna work or not.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: If someone's going low, if a young athlete is going low during practice, my first thought process would be what are you eating before?
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: How much insulin is typically on board before?
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Are you taking insulin before?
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Do we need to totally disconnect ourselves from our insulin pump or from any basil that's going on.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Do we need to turn off basil during practice or competition?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Those are the first places I would start with, but that might not be it.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: It might be you just need to be a little bit higher, because you're bottling out by the time practice or competition's over.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: It could be something simple as that.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: So there's things that we can do to think through.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Why are you going low?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Why are you going high?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Why are you not constantly steady in your blood sugars?
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: There's things that we can talk through, but unfortunately, I really believe that the more failures that we have, the more data that we have in front of us to learn.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, that didn't work this time, so now I'm going to do try this.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, that actually worked.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Cool, let me try it next time.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, you know what, next time it didn't work.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: That happens.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: So constantly trying to evolve what we're doing is so important, and having goals helps with that evolution, because we're ultimately working towards something instead of just living with diabetes.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: If you want to lower A1C, you know how to do it.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: You know how to do it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Now it's just time to put the effort and energy into it and focus on failing and succeeding, failing and improving, failing and improving.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: That is, ultimately, how I figured this condition out.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Now you are in a great spot Because you have people like myself, like the podcast, like other coaches, like other people in the diabetes community, the medical systems getting better with being an interpret data.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: You are in a great position Then I was when I was first diagnosed because all I had was me and you have all this, this Humongous community.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: You have this big, freaking community, huge community to lean on.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: So lean on us.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I hope this is Really resonating with you.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: If you haven't had a chance, make sure you go back and watch my conversation diabetes real talk with my good colleague and friend, matt Vannevek from FTF warrior.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: You can just go to my Instagram page.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: It should be Diabetes real talk, episode 17.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I believe 17, and you know here what his words to, on what his, the way he thinks about goals.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: You know we had a really good conversation about on this topic.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: So go back, listen to that, watch it, share it.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Share this episode with somebody.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening and I will see you next week.