#1810 Best of Juicebox: Owner of a Useless Pancreas

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1810 "Best of Juicebox: Owner of a Useless Pancreas"
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Jenny Smith (Certified Diabetes Educator)
Date: March 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this insightful and candid episode, Scott Benner and Jenny Smith debunk the widely used phrase "owner of a dead/useless pancreas" within the diabetes community. They discuss the critical, often overlooked, non-insulin roles of the pancreas—especially its function in digestion and how digestive health can dramatically affect overall well-being in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Through personal stories, particularly focusing on Scott’s daughter Arden’s protracted struggle with GI symptoms, the episode explores misconceptions, diagnostic pitfalls, and practical, obtainable strategies for improving digestive health and, by extension, quality of life for those living with diabetes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Debunking "Owner of a Dead Pancreas"

• The phrase, often seen on diabetes-themed T-shirts, implies the pancreas is entirely nonfunctional in T1D.
• Reality:
  • Even without producing insulin, the pancreas remains essential for life—especially its exocrine function: producing digestive enzymes.
  • Pancreatic dysfunction can contribute to complex digestive problems, often missed or misattributed.

“Your pancreas does more than make insulin, so this makes sense.”—Scott (29:08)

2. Pancreas: Dual Roles

• Endocrine: Hormones regulating blood sugar (insulin, glucagon, etc.).
• Exocrine: Release of digestive enzymes vital for breaking down fats, proteins, carbs.

"You have to understand the exocrine and endocrine functions. That's why we’ve talked about bolus strategizing for fats and proteins versus carbohydrates and the timing of it..."—Jenny (15:14)

3. Arden’s Digestive Ordeal: A Case Study

• Symptoms: Long-term constipation, severe stomach pain, gut motility issues, unexplained joint pain, acne, irregular periods.
• Medical Cul-de-sac:
  • Multiple doctors focused only on symptoms, prescribed medications (pain meds, restrictive diets) rather than seeking root causes.
  • Misdiagnosis with gastroparesis because of visible undigested food after 12hr fast—despite uncharacteristic insulin patterns.
• Breakthrough:
  • Eventually, after exhaustive investigation (and a tip from a "crunchy" health food store lady), Scott tries digestive enzymes, magnesium oxide, and probiotics.
  • Rapid, dramatic improvements in GI symptoms and overall quality of life.

“I'm here to tell you that I’m fully down the hippie rabbit hole about your gut health.” —Scott (12:03)
“[After the enzymes] her blood sugar never spikes the way it would. It didn’t need nearly the insulin it would have needed. And it stayed really flat. And I was like, oh my God, we did it.”—Scott (20:01)

4. Why Gut Health Matters in Autoimmune Disease

• Immune System Ties:
  • The gut is a massive component of the immune system.
  • Gut dysfunction can fuel/worsen autoimmune conditions—including type 1 diabetes, thyroid problems, and more.
• Symptom Overlap:
  • Digestive issues can masquerade as other systemic symptoms (fatigue, joint pain, hormone irregularity).

“It sort of leads you into this rabbit hole of consideration.”—Jenny (15:58)
“If some of these irritants get back into the body, they can create enough problem that your immune system sort of goes haywire. Right—autoimmune disorder.”—Jenny (36:50)

5. Supplementation Success: Practical Tips

• Digestive Enzymes:
  • Assist in breakdown and absorption when natural enzyme production is insufficient.
  • Key enzymes: lipase, amylase, protease.
• Magnesium Oxide:
  • Effective for constipation—note that not all magnesium forms work the same.
• Probiotics:
  • Support healthy bowel flora—more effective after restoring proper gut motility.

“These are two very safe, very simple supplements that you could give a shot to. Am I wrong?”—Scott (27:30)
“You certainly could give a shot to them...you should notice some definite benefit from using them.”—Jenny (27:58)

6. The Problems with Traditional Diagnosis

• Overuse of Symptom-Driven Band-Aids:
  • Many providers address symptoms with medication/dietary restriction without searching for the root cause.
• Advocacy:
  • Patients and families often must drive in-depth investigation.
  • Naturopathic and functional approaches may fill in critical gaps.

“There are a lot of band aids that are being given...instead of, let’s really, let’s really study and figure out...let’s figure this out from the standpoint of actually attacking the true problem.”—Jenny (37:50)

7. Broader Lessons, Broader Impact

• Scott’s Experience:
  • After seeing improvement in Arden, he tries the same supplements himself—experiences relief of lifelong digestive troubles.
• Community Feedback:
  • Listeners report similar benefits—adults and kids with diabetes frequently suffer similar symptoms.
• Important Note:
  • Always check with healthcare providers before starting supplements, especially if you have complex medical issues.

“I get up every morning just like the rest of you and take a nice poopy and then live my life. That did not used to happen for me."—Scott (34:07)
"So I just want to tell people, that's all. And I'm trying to draw them in with the title proud owner of a dead pancreas."—Scott (35:43)

8. Practical Tips for Poop & Gut Health

• "How often should you poop?"
  • Ideally daily, possibly after every meal.
  • Healthy stool is well-formed, not liquid or hard to pass.
• Magnesium: Not all types are equal!
  • Glycinate/citrate may not help with constipation—magnesium oxide does.

"Good digestion is at least twice a day...the more earthy, crunchy you should be pooping after every single meal."—Jenny (46:23)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the T-shirt Phrase:
  “It would be better for the shirts to actually say ‘proud owner of dead islet cells’ or ‘dead beta cells’...nothing’s technically dead.” —Jenny (29:21)
• On Gut as a Cesspool:
  “It's like throwing an air freshener into a cesspool.”—Scott (31:24)
• On Overcoming Medical Frustration:
  “I almost feel like I want to apologize...for not figuring it out sooner. Like, that terrible feeling I had watching Arden struggle.” —Scott (48:12)
• On Bowel Movements & Taboo:
  “Sometimes I hear people say it almost like it's a badge of honor. ‘I poop once a week.’ Like it's dainty. Do you know what I mean? Not dainty." —Scott (46:20)

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Important Timestamps

• Digestive enzymes & Arden’s breakthrough: 20:01, 27:30
• Explanation of pancreatic function: 09:13–11:14
• Challenging "dead pancreas" myth: 08:52–09:59
• Why gut health matters in autoimmunity: 36:50–37:05
• Magnesium forms for constipation: 42:11–42:55
• Describing healthy bowel habits: 46:23–47:51
• Challenges with college eating & insulin strategies: 51:01–55:36

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Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in lived experience, practical solutions, and refreshingly honest conversation about the unglamorous but crucial topic of gut health with type 1 diabetes. It urges listeners to look past tired taglines, challenge surface-level symptom management, educate themselves about the full spectrum of pancreatic function, and—above all—advocate for root-cause thinking in their diabetes care.

“If you’re noticing anything digestively, it could be a piece of maybe some of that ‘dead pancreas’ that isn’t quite working the way that it’s supposed to.”—Jenny (41:52)

Transcript

[A]

Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 792 of the Juice Box Podcast. Do you want to know what it's about? I'll tell you in just a second. It is likely that you've seen a T shirt that says, owner of a dead pancreas. Owner of a useless pancreas. My pancreas quit on me. Or, you know, any number of variations of that theme. Well, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Feels like that, right. Won't make you any insulin, but maybe you didn't know that the pancreas does more than that. So even if it's not making insulin for you, it's still helping you with something else that's very important. But for some people, it doesn't do that thing perfectly. Just listen. We're going to go over the whole thing. It's very important that you understand what your pancreas does and what it might not be doing. And if you're seeing symptoms of that, how you can help yourself, you're going to love it. And of course, Jenny's here, so, I mean, even if I suck Jenny's amazing, nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Or always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. That's pretty much it. Except, hey, don't forget to go to the T1D exchange and take the survey. T1D exchange.org Juicebox Today's episode of the podcast is sponsored by two longtime advertisers, Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor and Omnipod, the insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing since she was four years old. To learn more about the Dexcom G6 and to get started today, go to dexcom.com juicebox and if you're interested in the Omnipod 5 or the Omnipod Dash, you can find out about both of them@ omnipod.com juicebox now we get to the show and Jenny, who, by the way, was works@integrated diabetes.com. hey, hold on. Yeah. What's up?

[B]

How are you feeling?

[A]

My head's a little swimmy, but I can breathe.

[B]

That's not good. I was going to actually see if you wanted, if you were okay to do this this morning or if you wanted to sleep until noon.

[A]

Well, what I thought was if I could do this, then I could do the thing later because if this doesn't go well, I gotta make a phone call.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

But, hey, I was cold all night. Like that kind of Like, I can't get warm.

[B]

Like, insert.

[A]

Oh, my God, why won't I warm up then You. But I don't know, it's. It's super strange. I have no restriction in my lungs whatsoever. But if I start to cough on purpose, then it feels like something's happening. So hopefully that won't get worse. Jenny, you have no idea. I am.

[B]

I'm sorry.

[A]

I don't get sick.

[B]

I know. You told me that the last time we talked. You're like, I'm fine. I don't get sick. Nothing ever happens to be. Cough on me.

[A]

It'll be fine. This thing. I texted my buddy yesterday, he's a doctor, and I said, what's going around? That isn't Covid. And he goes, is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah. Because he's.

[B]

I've had so many kids, so many parents. Like, I'm home with my kids. I hope you don't mind. They're screaming in the backyard. They all have. Or in the background while we talk. They all have rsv. One lady. Actually, their whole daycare shut down because three quarters of the daycare had RS rsv. So, yeah, you know.

[A]

Yeah. He's like, it's going to be head chest tired. Could last 10 days or more, he said. I was like, oh, good. So as I'm asking him that, my son comes home from a place he went. He's like, I'm not okay. And I was like, all right. I was like, get in bed. Loaded him up with some Advil, cold and sinus, which seems to clear the head thing. So anyway, we just need to be better because I'm gonna find a way to go to the World Series. And I don't know.

[B]

You are.

[A]

I mean, if I can, I'm gonna figure it out. If I can.

[B]

All right, well, you know, plenty of people. I'm quite sure that somebody would probably be very happy to give you tickets.

[A]

I've already floated that on the Internet to see what might happen. So obviously I said, how would you like your kid to have amazing blood sugar?

[B]

Yes. Kind of like Runs with Jenny, right?

[A]

Runs with Jenny. Oh, my God. Yesterday. So tell me, we'll leave this all in. Tell me what happened yesterday.

[B]

Oh, yeah, it was. It's just, I. It's just funny. I call it diabetes in the wild. Right? Where you, like, you find people or you see their tubing or you see something on someone, you know, whatever, whatever. So, yeah, I had a half marathon yesterday. Running, running, running. It was like mile 5ish, I think. And I Hear like, I always run with only one earbud in because I, I, I don't like complete, like not being able to pay attention. So anyway, I hear this like really stompy feet coming, making me high, and somebody's like breathing heavy to the point that I knew that they were running quickly. And this woman, like speeds up next to me and she's like, I was trying to catch you. I saw your dex come on your arm. And I was like, oh, yeah. She's like, I have a little girl who had type one a long time. And she did. Yes. It was like a two day sort of event. Yesterday was like the 5K. The 5K. Dog, dog and that kind of stuff. And then the day yesterday was the half marathon and then the kids like fun run. So her daughter had done the 5k the day before on Saturday. And she's like, you know, I thought we were, we're all good. And then she's like double arrowing down at the end of the event. She's like, I just wanted to know how do you prevent low blood sugars while you're running? She said, and this is a half marathon, not a 5K. So we got to talking and, you know, it was just, it's always fun to, to like be able to share and whatnot. And I said, well, I said, to be honest, I've been doing this a long time. And two, I'm a diabetes educator. And three, you should really listen to this super awesome podcast Jenny's out there selling.

[A]

I like that.

[B]

But yeah, we got to talking and just like some ideas. She's. Her daughter's also just a couple of days into Omnipod 5. So like, lots of variables in the picture there for this race that, you know, she's like, we've been doing this a number. Her daughter had had type one already for six years. So they're not like newbies by any means, but just new technology and everything in the picture and just trying to figure things out.

[A]

New algorithm and three days later on a marathon.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Well, look at you out there in the world.

[B]

It was, it was, it's always, it's always fun, Excellent, you know.

[A]

All right, cool. So here's what we're going to do today because just in case I don't leave in the explanation, I have the illness upon me and I'm going to see, I'm going to keep the one topic today because I think jumping around might get me. I'm going to stick to one thing.

[B]

So now people are going to think well, what kind of illness does Scott had? Because all you said was the illness. It could be a random. Whatever is going around right here.

[A]

It is. It's. I was sleeping in bed on my side, and I was. I woke up and I'm like, oh, I'm very tired. I should text Jenny and tell her no. I'm like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to get up. I'm going to take a shower. I'll take the dogs out. I can do this. My voice is there. I'm going to be okay. And I got up, and I was like, oh, I'm freezing.

[B]

Let's get back in bed.

[A]

I put all my clothes on. I had my hood up to take the dogs outside. I came back upstairs. I'm not a person who prepares before a shower. That might be a thing that women don't understand. But I usually get out of the shower and then look for my clothes. But this time, I got all my clothes together because I'm like, I'm not getting out and being cold.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I finished my shower. I opened the shower curtain, and I did not get a towel.

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

I was like, damn it. Damn it. And I got a towel, and now I'm freezing. And threw the clothes on. And then I just did something I never do. I had 15 minutes till we had to do this. I just sat down. I was like, I'm just not. I'm just gonna sit here. So I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now. By the time we're done, I could be in a tank top. I have no idea how this is gonna go, but what we're going to do today, we are going to debunk the classic diabetes phrase. Owner of. Go ahead, Johnny, finish it.

[B]

A dead pancreas.

[A]

Ah, that's right. It is time to debunk owner of a dead pancreas. And there's. So I've got my Google Foo. Is all done. Because I don't want to be wrong, and I. But I have a lot of anecdotal information about this.

[B]

Oh, good.

[A]

So let's start here. The Cleveland Clinic. A reputable organization.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

The pancreas.

[B]

Very reputable.

[A]

You would think. I mean, it would. I was going to say it would have to be great to be in Cleveland, but let's not do that. The pancreas isn't. The pancreas is an organ in the back of your abdomen. It is part of your digestive system. Oh. The pancreas is an organ and a gland. Glands are organs that Produce and release substances in the body. The pancreas performs two main functions. An exocrine function which produces substances, enzymes that help with digestion.

[B]

You just had lots and lots of enzymes talking about Arden in her supplements, so.

[A]

Yes, and it. There's one more thing here. Let me finish this. It says the endocrine function sends out hormones that control the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. So let's tell people what's in the exocrine system. Oh, Jesus. Tear glands, mammary glands, mucous membranes, your prostate, your salivary glands. I don't know this one. Sebacus glands.

[B]

Sebaceous.

[A]

Sebaceous oil. Sweet glands. And then what is in the endocrine system? Adrenal glands. Uh. Oh, hypothalamus, ovaries and testes. Parathyroid and thyroid gland, pineal gland, pituitary gland, thymus. Oh, I did really well with the pronunciations, didn't I?

[B]

Except you called them sweet glands instead of sweat glands.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

I'm gonna. I was totally chuckling like, yeah, like. Yeah, you have a fever, I think.

[A]

Well, I. First of all, I do. And. But for a person who's, you know, trying to sit up and keep his head still, I thought I did okay there.

[B]

Okay, you did perfect.

[A]

Thank you. Sweat glance. All right, now, the extent that I've seen this in the diabetes community is just this. People have T shirts that say, proud owner of a useless pancreas. Proud owner of a dead pancreas. And then someone else will come up to them and say, your pancreas does more than make insulin. And then it never goes anywhere from there. Right, But I've heard that conversation for the better part of the entire time that Arden's had diabetes. And yet when Arden had problems with digestion, we looked at every other possibility in the world about why her stomach might hurt, except for digestion, and she suffered for a couple of years.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. You looked at her digestive system without looking at the pieces that help digestion. Right. It's like looking at just the part or giving, which is very common, I have to say. It oftentimes you go in with a symptom, and you get a medication to take care of the symptom, but the problem is never addressed.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And I can for sure say that because by the time we broke down, and I want to give my wife credit, my wife tried to get me to take her for a endoscopy for, like, a year, and I was so certain because of the joint pain and that other Stuff I thought I was so certain it can't be that. But now I'm here to tell you that I am, I am fully down the hippie rabbit hole about your gut health. And we're going to talk about that now, too. So I, I, it's one. Don't you think? It's one of those things most people hear and they're like, yeah, yeah. My problem is. It is.

[B]

Yeah, it's very, it is. I mean, you say hippie, it's kind of earthy, crunchy, sort of whatever. But truly, I mean, your digestive system is an enormous part of your immune system. It's an enormous part of you think, you think digestion and you think about poop. Well, at least my boys do. They're little kids, so whatever. But if you think about what your digestive system is really supposed to be doing, it's breaking down the food that you've eaten into macronutrients, fats, proteins, carbs, and then it helps to absorb them the right way and put them back into the body. At least the ones that you hope go back into your body. Yeah, Right. So if the breakdown isn't happening the right way, you're going to end up with a lot of digestive issues, possibly first or later on. And you're also going to have a lot of other things in your body that aren't functioning the way that they're supposed to be functioning. But there again, it comes off as a symptom. You may feel the joint pain, you may have an off monthly cycle, or you might have this or that, but it never comes back to, oh, gosh, is it an absorptive issue? Is it another problem with another, like, you know, the pancreas, Is it something else?

[A]

So also, while your stomach is basically acting as, I'm gonna just say something terrible here, a cesspool for food, because it is not going through you quickly enough. Right. It's just stuff is sitting in there and it's festering and it is not a healthy environment. The bad bacteria overwhelms the good bacteria and then you slide down like a. It's just an endless shoot. But the problem is, this is crazy. If you look back over the 700 and some episodes of this podcast, we've hit every idea around this except the idea of digestion. We have episodes 263, fat and protein 471, bolusing insulin for fat. And there you go, like, right, what do most people see a spike after a meal. And it's probably because their digestion has slowed down. Right. The insulin. Don't. You know, that's how I start thinking about it. Like, if you. If it takes longer to digest fat, then your insulin gets in and it's gone while the fat still remains behind and the carbs holding up your blood sugar. And then we attack that from a bolusing standpoint, which makes sense. And then low carb people come in yelling, it's because you eat bad food. And they're probably not wrong, but it doesn't get us to the answer.

[B]

It doesn't. And. And it also doesn't get to the main point, which, you know, you have long. And we've emphasized when we've talked together, it is about a timing thing and understanding insulin. Right. So if you. It's. It's a multi piece thing that you have to put together. Right. You have to understand. And that's why we've talked about bolus strategizing for fats and proteins versus carbohydrates and the timing of it and what it should look like. But if you've got some other things that are going on digestively that are based on how your enzymes are working with the food, some of that may also be playing in. And I mean, again, it sort of leads you into this rabbit hole of consideration.

[A]

Yeah. Well, here's the rabbit hole. Arden goes finally, to get an end. What am I saying? Endoscopy and the doctor. First I'm gonna read you. First I'm gonna read you a definition, then we're gonna talk about the doctor.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Gastroparesis is a condition that affects the normal spontaneous movement of the muscles or motility in your stomach. Ordinarily, strong muscular contractions propel food through your digestive tract. You'll notice that the definition for gastroparesis never mentions the word diabetes, because in a normal person who doesn't have diabetes, if you had slow digestion, they would say to you, oh, you're digesting your food slowly. It's called gastroparesis. When we hear the word gastroparesis, we think, oh, my God, here it comes, right? Diabetes has gotten us. And. And here it is. So we. We do the. We go to the. We go to the doctor. He doesn't know Arden. We tell him her blood sugars are very well controlled. Here's the range it's in. And then I realized he probably doesn't believe us, didn't ask to say it. And then he goes in, looks in her stomach, and finds food from the night before. He's like, there's lettuce in arden's stomach from 12 hours ago. She has gastroparesis. So my wife and I are like, whoa, whoa. Like it hit you like a ton of bricks, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I was like, what? And then my wife started saying, I think he's just. He. It's. And we're just doing that, going back and forth and back and forth. And we talked about it. I talked about it. I did a standalone episode 767 called Ardent Supplements, but just for 30 seconds here. We went home, I called Jenny, we talked about how to get Arden on a. On a. What is it? A gastroparesis diet. Right? That's what they call it.

[B]

That's. Yeah. For lack of a better word, yes. Yeah.

[A]

And all of a sudden, Arden couldn't eat anything with skin on it. She couldn't, you know, had to avoid proteins, anything that was difficult to digest. Well.

[B]

And even I said, and now I am not a gastroenterologist. I don't claim to be one, but I even told you, I was like, she doesn't have gastroparesis. I said, she's got something else going on that's causing this. And it's been a long term thing that she's mean. You guys have been dealing with this or had been dealing with this for. For a while, knowing something was not right. She was constantly complaining of stomach aches and, you know, whatever. I was like, this, this isn't classic gastroparesis. That. This doesn't even sound like gastroparesis. But again, I am not a gastroenterologist.

[A]

Well, listen, I'm her. I'm her father. And for the year or so prior to that, every time somebody would be like, is it this? I'd think I've talked to so many people who have gastroparesis, and Ardent's Boluses don't mimic what gastroparesis does. So anyway, because of that kind of anecdotal information, we kept ignoring it. And I want to make sure I say this in case my wife ever hears this. I kept ignoring it. I kept saying, no, no, no, it's got to be something else. And even Arden started, you know, with her kung Fu Googling, and she's like, I've got fibromyalgia. I've got this, like, my knees hurt, like, everything. Right? So anyway, so we go home and Arden starts eating this incredibly restrictive diet, which, by the way, does not make her stomach feel any better. And about a week into it, she says, I would rather my stomach just Hurt. And it was just the saddest thing, you know? Like, I thought, oh, God, her stomach's gonna hurt for her whole life. You know, she's been constipated since she was a little kid. She would have, I look back now, she'd do this thing where, like, she wouldn't go for days, then diarrhea and then not go for days, then diarrhea and pain up in the top of her stomach to the point where she had us, like, no lie, like, pushing down with all of our might at the top of her stomach. And when you got pushed down hard enough, the pain would go away for a minute.

[B]

And she was like, just almost like reflux, sort of.

[A]

Jenny. We would do it for hours sometimes, you know, like, she'd lay on the floor and have you put your, your heel in her stomach, like, stuff like that. And so this week's going on, I'm watching her, the diet is not doing anything. And she says to me out of nowhere, I want you to realize that at this point, I still don't think digestion. Okay, right, okay. She says, I want to go to five guys. I'm getting a cheeseburger, I'm getting fries, and I'm getting a milkshake, and I don't care what happens next. And I was like, okay. Like, I don't know what to do, right? So I said, well, first, do this thing with me. I'll take you to five guys. You I'm going to stop first. At a health food store, I heard somebody say something about a digestive enzyme. That's it. I don't know where I heard it online. I saw it written down somewhere through Googling. I have no idea. I'm like, we're going to get those. You take them while you eat. She was like, I'm going to be honest with you. She was like, whatever. Like she was. She. I'll do it, but I don't believe in this. I don't believe in anything. It had been long enough. She had given up on the idea. So we get them and I, we get home, I'm like, here, take two of them. Because the lovely crunchy lady at the health food store said, take two. If it's a high fat meal she takes to, her blood sugar never spikes the way it would. It didn't need nearly the insulin it would have needed. And it stayed really flat. And I was like, oh, my God, we did it. Except then the next day, I was like, have you pooped since you ate the cheeseburger? And she Goes, no. There are two things that I would tell you to look at first, if you have diabetes. First one I'm going to tell you about is the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor. This little device shows you on the receiver that comes with it or on your cell phone, your blood sugars, number, direction and speed constantly. Like it's always there when you look at it. And you can set alarms. So like, say you don't want your blood sugar to go over, I don't know, 150. You make an alarm at 150 and when it gets to 150, go say, beep, beep, baby, we're at 150. It doesn't say it exactly like that, but there's beeping. Then you look and see the 150 and say, oh, I might have missed on my bolus, let me do what I'm gonna do. Or you set an alarm for a lower number. Say you don't want to know. Let's say you want to know when your blood sugar is 85. Beep, beep, beep. I'm 85. Oh, I hear beep, beep, beep. I take a look, oh, 85. And then I take a little. I do what I'm going to do. Whatever you're going to do, you do it. Then you can keep in this range. Seriously, when you, when you're aware of the range your blood sugar's in, it's easier to stay in it. It's easier not to ping pong all over the place. Roller coaster. I mean, listen, we talk about it all the time in the podcast. You can check the podcast out later. But this Dexcom G6 is at the core, right? I mean for that, for that management stuff, 100% needed, but also for safety, security, convenience. How about that? Up to 10 people can follow someone. So, say your kids at school, you could see their blood sugar on your phone and so could nine other people of your choosing. Or not. Whatever you want to do. Dexcom.com forward/juicebox, please head over there today and check it out. You may be eligible for a free 10 day trial of the Dexcom G6. You'll only find that out on my site, so hit the link. Guys, you're also going to want to get yourself the. And guys, you're also going to want to get yourself the Omnipod. It's a tubeless insulin pod pump. It's really terrific, a tiny little device. Fill it up with insulin, put it on, no tubing. You understand you're not connected to anything. You just wear it. And then there's a handheld controller that you say, like, I'm having 12 grams of carbs. And it tells you, because you put in settings, it tells you, well, this is how much insulin you'll need for those 12 grams. Push the button. Whole thing happens wirelessly. You're not connected to the controller. There's no tubing. You have an insulin pump that you can swim with, that you can bathe with, that you can play your sports with and sleep comfortably with. No tubing, no controller attached to. Now that's for the Omnipod 5, which is an automated insulin pump system, or for the Omnipod Dash. Both of them are tubeless. Both of them give you that freedom. Now, the Omnipod 5 is the only tubeless automated insulin delivery system that integrates with the Dexcom G6CGM. And it uses smart adjust technology to automatically adjust your insulin delivery every five minutes, helping to protect against highs and lows without multiple daily injections. That's the Omnipod 5, tubeless and automated. Omnipod Dash. Tubeless, not automated. Still an amazing system. So whether you want an automated system or a system that you kind of take the reins on one way or the other, you want tubeless, you want the Omnipod. Omnipod.com/juicebox. For full safety risk information and free trial terms and conditions, you can also visit omnipod.com forward/juicebox. I know what you just thought. Free trial terms and conditions. You didn't mention a free trial. Well, how about this? You may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omnipod Dash. Go find out at my link omnipod.com forward/juice box. Have you pooped since you ate the cheeseburger? And she goes, no. So now it's days that go by, she's taking them under duress because we're making her, but her stomach still hurts and all this stuff. And finally I said to my wife, I'm seeing something with her insulin. I know this is working, but there's got to be another component to it. I go back to the health food store, explain it to the crunchy lady. And by the way, the crunchy lady has a Russian accent. So the whole thing is a ton of fun, right? And she's like, it's like, I'm telling you, it's out of like a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie. She's like moose and squirrel. You know what I mean? Like, just like that, right? And. And so I tell her what goes on she, she walks across the room, grabs this big jug. She says, magnesium oxide. This will make her go. And I was like, right, well. And she goes, here, and take this probiotic too. So I went home. Arden had noticed enough improvement that she took the other stuff. And, like, for three days, I'm like, have you pooped how you pooped? She actually once said to me, please stop asking me if I've gone to the bathroom. I don't, I don't want to tell you. And I kept asking.

[B]

I am 18, dad. Please don't ask if I have pooped.

[A]

Well, one day I asked her and she smiled and she goes, oh, you idiot. I went days ago. And I was like, why are you doing this to me? So then her. That cycle started happening with frequency. Eat. Then I, I shared it in episode 767, where I go over the supplements that Arden's taking. But Kelly and Arden were leaving to go to a restaurant one day. They left the house. I thought they were gone. Arden came back in the house. I forgot something, she says, goes in the kitchen and she grabs the digestive enzymes. And I was like, holy hell, it worked. Because there's no way she would have come back for it if not like, just, you know, so it's such a cheap and easy attempt, right? Like, if you have digestion issues or you're not pooping, these are two very safe, very simple supplements that you could give a shot to. Am I wrong?

[B]

You could. No, you. You certainly could give a shot to them. And again, in terms of, like, long term effect, the, the build, especially of the digestive enzymes, if you truly do have some type of digestive enzyme issue, whether it's an absorption issue with them or it is a release of them in the right way in your body, you should notice some definite benefit from using them.

[A]

Right?

[B]

But if you don't, clearly it's not something you just keep taking to see if it's going to work.

[A]

No. Arden saw an improvement really quickly, right? Like a week. And, and you were like, okay, well, this is working. Yeah. Something else is wrong. Something else is wrong. But now, as the weeks have gone by and she's building up what I'm assuming is a healthier gut because there's no, like, rotted food sitting in her stomach for days, right. And now the probiotics are having a chance to work. I have not. Now she's at college, and fair is fair. She could be down there right now going, God, my knee hurts. But she has not said anything, and

[B]

she's on and she's pretty honest with you about things, it seems.

[A]

Well, there's also this. There's this look that goes over her once the medical stuff has, like, beaten her down and you can see it, like, you can see the, like, I give up on her face. And now she's walking to classes. She's, you know, getting on buses, going somewhere, walking up and down stairs more than usual. I've not heard a word from her about it. And I don't know, I mean, hopefully it keeps working. But your pancreas does more than make insulin, so this makes sense. So does it do anything else or just those. It just has basically those two functions.

[B]

It has those two, right? I mean, essentially the exocrine, the endocrine. I mean, if you think about. You go to an endocrinologist and endocrinologists, especially by people with diabetes, are specifically thought of as being like, the diabetes doctor. But there are some endos who don't even do diabetes at all. Like, they are specifically thyroid endocrine physicians. Right. Some are very much just the, you know, the ones that deal with, like, the ovaries and those kinds of things, that aspect. And they may not know very much at all about diabetes because that's not really what they've gone into. So that, you know, again, those are the primary functions. But again, it would be better for the T shirts to actually say proud owner of like, dead islet cells or dead beta cells. And Even that isn't 100% the truth, because we still know that betas still have some little, little bit of action, even if it doesn't really look like they're doing much of anything. People who have had diabetes for numbers of years can still have minor output from some of the betas that are still left. So nothing's technically done dead.

[A]

So the idea I've heard in the past is that those cells are so overwhelmed with inflammation that they can't move and function. Right? And that's the other part of, like, you're still like, if you're listening, you're like, scott, I don't understand. Why did her knee stop hurting? Because you fixed your stomach inflammation. Your stomach is. Is again, it's a cesspool. Nothing's flowing through you. It's rotten in there. And it is. And the bacteria is now off balance. So even throwing in a probiotic, which, by the way, we tried like a year and a half before that, when people are like, oh, it's her stomach here, give her all these probiotics and stuff like that, she kept Taking them. And she's like, these are not doing anything because we were throwing them into a pit of vileness. That's why.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Yeah. It's like throwing an air freshener into a cesspool. That's what we were doing.

[B]

We were like, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So once you got the food moving through her and this is how it went in my head, I'll get the food moving and then I'll address the bacteria in her stomach. And I mean, the.

[B]

It seems to be a good combination.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, so far I should knock on all the wood in the house, but yeah, I mean, you know, I don't jump on the podcast and say stuff till I've seen it work for a while, you know, and to be

[B]

true, you know, when we're talking about the comparison of the supplement that she takes or these digestive enzyme supplements, the majority of the kind of ingredients in them are to supplement what should be some of the enzymes that are being put out by the pancreas to again, deal with your macronutrients being fats and proteins and carbohydrates. Right. Even the saliva in your mouth does contain some of a carbohydrate based digestive enzyme. So, you know, digestion to some degree starts in your mouth, mainly of carbohydrates. As you move further down the digestive system, those other enzymes that are supposed to be coming from your pancreas, like lipase and amylase and prostate protease. Yes. To think of the third one, you'll look on the digestive enzyme label for the ingredients and those should be within there if you're getting a true digestive enzyme. Because what you're, what you're doing is replacing them into the body. For whatever reason, your pancreas isn't doing enough of the job or your body's just not using it. Right. Whatever.

[A]

So here's a Google search. What can poor gut health lead to? When your body doesn't have enough good bacteria, bad bacteria can thrive. The following can be signs of gut bacteria imbalance. Autoimmune problems such as thyroid issues, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn or bloating. Now, I'm going to tell you this after I watch this work with Arden for a week or two. I thought, you know, I have most of the problems Arden has. I've like powered through it my whole life. But I have, right. And I've got checked for celiac and I don't have celiac, but even as a child, I can remember my uncle and aunt used to like to take us to a pizza joint near where they worked on Friday nights, and we'd eat at the pizza place and have a 15 minute ride home. And I would have to make them stop at the business they owned halfway through so I could go to the bathroom.

[B]

You go to the bathroom?

[A]

Yeah. And even when I was like 6 or 8 years old and I can remember being in the bathroom and people like, why is Scott in the bathroom for so long? And I wanted to yell because I'm in agonizing pain. Thank you for asking.

[B]

Because I ate the pizza. Yeah.

[A]

But it was like 1979, and my

[B]

body doesn't like the pizza.

[A]

Yeah, stop taking me for pizza, please. So. So I said to Kelly, I'm like, I'm going to take these enzymes, you know, because I've been doing fiber supplements for years to get ahead of the problem. But I. It always felt like what you talked about before, it was like a band aid. It was helping, but it wasn't. Nothing was stopping. You know what I mean? Like, everything got through easier, but it's still like, if I would forget the fiber one day, I'd wake up in the morning and think, oh, God, I didn't take the fiber yesterday. Yeah, oh, here goes my day, you know? So I start taking the enzymes and the magnesium and the. And the probiotic, and voila. I don't need the fiber anymore. I get up every morning just like the rest of you and take a nice poopy and then live my life. That did not used to happen for me, so. And I don't mind sharing it here where really more people are going to hear it than I'd like to imagine right now. But. But I want you all to know, because when I went into the Facebook group and I said, here's the episode about Arden's supplements, the amount of people who came in and were like, hey, my kid's stomach hurts all the time. My kid's always constipated. This is since diabetes. Blah, blah, blah. Adults. Like, I got a note from a woman in her 50s. She's like, you. She's like, you saved me. So I just want to tell people, that's all. And I'm trying to draw them in with the title proud owner of a dead pancreas. I think, I think I can get them into the episode of that.

[B]

That could be. Well, and I think there are a lot of. I mean, even if you look at some of the research that's been done on the digestive system in terms of. And I absolutely. I hate the term like leaky gut. I think it's too, it's too broadly used and it's not, it doesn't give any definition to what might actually be going on. But for people that are more predisposed to autoimmune conditions, the potential that their gut may be sort of like, let's call it, you know, like Swiss cheese, if you will. And there are more holes that allow things to get back into the body that should have been being held in the digestive system and then passed out. Right. So if some of these things that are irritants, if you will get back into the body, they can create enough problem that your immune system sort of goes haywire. Right. Autoimmune disorder. And whether it's thyroid or celiac or type one or the other autoimmune disorders, the, the gut is heavily studied in terms of autoimmune conditions.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if you can keep a healthy gut while you know that you already have an autoimmune condition, you may be able to potentially hold down or prevent other autoimmune conditions as well.

[A]

Why is this not a mainstream idea? Why did that doctor give Arden a medication for pain, a medication for something else? He gave her three meds and a diet that a 90 year old person would be like, I don't want to eat this. Like, it was, it was a, it was a restrictive diet. Why didn't he just say, hey, go to the health food store and buy a handful of digestive enzymes and let's give that a whirl and see what happens. Like, how did he not know that I didn't go to medical school, Jenny? It took me two years, but I figured it out. Right.

[B]

Yeah. You want to really dive into that. That's a big hot topic. In terms of what get again, I think the best thing to say is that there are a lot of band aids that are being given.

[A]

Yeah. Instead of.

[B]

And instead of, let's really, let's really study and figure out. Let me listen to all of your symptoms and let's figure this out from the standpoint of actually attacking the true problem. And I've encountered that in terms of, you know, like my own health stuff. I was amazed when I first started seeing a naturopathic physician, someone who had gone to medical school and then had gone back after getting her MD to focus on women's health and many of the things that are very specific to females versus males. And, you know, she's like, well, all these things, you know, why, why wasn't this tried? Or why wasn't this looked at? Or let's get a check to make sure that all of these types of things in your body are actually at the right level. And there were a number of things. I mean, even just vitamin D, she's the, she's the one that got my vitamin D level back up by simply telling me to take a drop that went under my tongue instead of a supplemental tablet that went into my. Just my digestive system and it didn't get absorbed.

[A]

Yeah, some people can absorb it, some people can't. And now let us, let us go back. Everyone knows that I have trouble absorbing iron. Oh, isn't that interesting? So, you know, I can't. So even if I take an iron supplement, it doesn't move my iron level up. I have to take it with ascorbic acid or vitamin, like vitamin C. I don't know why that makes sense. The gut lining, pull it up better, but it does. And it's. It's a similar thing. And when you start putting the pieces together and drawing lines from A to B. Arden has diabetes. And, you know, she was, she. We thought she was fine, but she was young. Who knows, maybe her stomach's been hurting forever and she just didn't know to say anything. My stomach hurt when I was a kid. And so even that, like, when that happens, you think, oh, maybe it's just genetic. Like, my stomach hurts, her stomach hurts. I guess this is what we get. And then you just start putting everything together. Now, one of the other things that made this difficult to figure out was Arden's hormonal issues. So incredibly long period, 11 to 14 days. It would restart after two or three days, go back to 11 or 14 days. Like, it just. She was constantly bleeding. She would get a vicious nosebleed once a month, like, like clockwork. Her acne a couple of years ago, just out of nowhere, just. It was really terrible. Like, she's tried everything that you can think of to fix your acne. Right. And we had gone through so many things, and Dr. Benito, who did the thyroid episode with me, she said, well, I think Arden's going to need Metformin. And I was like, okay. And she goes, I think it's going to be an insulin resistant thing. I think she's going to need Metformin. But before we try that, would you go buy this supplement called Ovacetal? And when I said that to Jenny, to kind of Check things. Jenny's like, oh, yeah, people use that all the time. And I was like, oh, hell. So Avastatol, a little powder. You melt it in the water. Boom. You drink it. You can't taste it. And I don't know how long it took. Not long. A month or two. And her period started regulating. The nosebleed stopped. Her acne started going away. I mean, Jesus, you know, girl. Poor girls, you guys, it's. And then you got to live with

[B]

boys who have no clue.

[A]

It's too much.

[B]

So sorry to all you boys, but really, like, I think it's right.

[A]

I think it's too much. All this happens, and then there are boys there who are like, it's Sunday. I'm watching football.

[B]

Right, yes.

[A]

Or whatever they do. So anyway, so that's it. All right, so are we missing anything around gut health, what the pancreas does or any of the issues that, you know, Arden went through? Did I miss anything?

[B]

I don't think so. I mean, if you really wanted to dig deeper into each of those little pieces or enzymes, you certainly could. But, you know, that's what Google's for, right?

[A]

I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to tell you what happened. You can figure it out.

[B]

Right? You know, but to let people know that clearly your. Your pancreas has a lot of other definitely good things that it should be doing. And if you're noticing anything digestively, it could be a piece of maybe some of that quote unquote, dead pancreas that isn't quite working the way that it's supposed to.

[A]

I'll tell you, this is interesting because I don't think many people. I think a lot of people who have, like, constipation problems will be like, I heard, to take magnesium, but there are, like, three different kinds of magnesium, maybe more. I have no idea. And I remember somebody telling us to give Arden magnesium, and we gave her the wrong kind. So a year and a half ago, we could have had this, right? But instead of magnesium oxide, we gave her. Hold on a second. I'll tell you what it was.

[B]

And I'm like, I don't know what her supplement. Magnesium citrate maybe.

[A]

Yeah, we gave her magnesium citrate or glycinate. So no kidding. There's glycinate, citrate, and oxide. We tried glycinate and citrate, and when it didn't work, Arden's like, I'm not taking these things anymore. We have one more to go.

[B]

Well, and many people actually with diabetes are low in a number of different things, magnesium being one of them. Sometimes zinc is also on the lower end. I always recommend if you're considering some symptoms and some of the things that, again, I mean, Google's great, but it is a rabbit hole of information that you can really get into. And not quite. You end up coming out thinking you got 50 more things than you thought you had. Right. So a simple, I mean, blood test will tell you where these levels are to be able to start at the right place. Because obviously, if you're not low in something or whatnot, there's really not a need for you to go crazy on supplements.

[A]

What about, though, in the case of, like, when Addie came on and talked about thyroid, she also talked about ferritin levels. And she said. She said, I don't care what those tests say. If you're a woman of menstruating age, your fart needs to be above 70. But. But the test won't say that. But this is from her own practice and anecdotal, you know, experiences. So that's the other problem, because we see it happen with thyroid all the time. They're like, I have all these thyroid systems, and I got. Your labs are in range, and then no. And then that's it.

[B]

Right. But the labs, a good example is vitamin D for a second one. I mean, labs typically have you in target as long as you're between 30 and 100 and optimal, truly. I got this from my naturopathic doctor. She's like, optimal is much tighter. It's actually 50 to 70. That's where you want to sit. So, I mean, when I started out, mine was 18. My doctor thought that had to completely be wrong. He's like, let's do the test again. Oh, no. It came back at 18. And I was like, oh, well, look at that.

[A]

What did you experience when you got the level up?

[B]

When I got the level up, I can definitely say that insulin. And this was years ago, but I can definitely say that my insulin sensitivity, I guess for lack of a better word, was more stable. Because, of course, vitamin D works on a cellular level in terms of how it responds to glucose as well as insulin. So I. I just know that if I keep in target, if I keep in range, I notice more consistency just in overall, like, glucose and insulin sensitivity.

[A]

Okay, that's great.

[B]

So that's big thing that I noticed.

[A]

All right, so I want to say this at the end, because we are finished. I want to tell people notice here at the End. I'm not trying to sell you something. Jenny's not telling you to go to a link to get more information. There are no clickable links when you buy magnesium oxide. That I make money. Nothing like that. I'm just here to tell you what happened to Artem, because it was, it was, it was really horrible. And it was daily. And she was held down by it, I think, emotionally. And I was too. And I started feeling like I am definitely failing her on this because there must be some sort of an answer. And. And then when I see everybody talking about it online, I can't believe how many people jumped up and said, what's that magnesium? What, what's the, what's the enzy me about that? I don't digest food well. I'm constipated. But all the time, like, and sometimes, sometimes I hear people say it almost like it's a badge of honor. I poop once a week. Like, like it's almost like it's dainty. Do you know what I mean?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Not dainty. How many times we want to poop, Jenny?

[B]

Daily. Yeah, absolutely daily. In fact, I thought it was the weirdest question. When I first started taking my, my first child to the, to the pediatrician, he was like, well, how many times a week is he going to the bathroom? I'm like, my kid goes to the bathroom every day. People are supposed to poop every day. Your body is supposed to transit things in and move on out. That's the. And at least, I mean, honestly, good, good digestion is at least twice a day. And if you go even further to the more earthy, crunchy, you should be pooping after every single meal. Ooh.

[A]

So because the new food comes in and pushes the old stuff out.

[B]

That's right. You got to clean bacteria. It's moving it in, it's getting it out, it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.

[A]

That's a healthy. So that's the thing we make fun of people for, by the way.

[B]

Oh, absolutely, yes. And I mean, this should be well formed poop. I mean, if you want to get in depth about it. Right. It shouldn't be, it shouldn't be disgusting. It shouldn't be like liquidy, whatever. This good poop couple times a day should be well formed. It should come out easily. You should not have the strain to go to the bathroom. Yeah.

[A]

It shouldn't be stuck under the toilet seat when you're over.

[B]

No, it should not.

[A]

Those, those are moments reserved for days of drinking and then what Happens at the end. Or illness. When you really. When you think about having a virus or something like that, what happens? As you're getting better from the virus, you, like, evacuate because your body is like, there's a lot of badness in here. Let's throw it out.

[B]

Let's move it on out. That's exactly right.

[A]

All right. We've done it, Jenny. We've saved lives here.

[B]

Call this, like, the pooping episode or something.

[A]

Proud owner of a dead pancreas that, though. I don't know. There's nothing there.

[B]

There's nothing there. No.

[A]

Anyway, I really. I have to say, um, I almost feel like I want to apologize to the people listening for not figuring it out sooner. Like that. That terrible feeling I had watching Arden struggle. When you start getting the emails and the notes online, I actually, for a second thought, like, oh, I let all those people down, too. I really felt like that for a minute, you know?

[B]

Well, I think this goes a level further in terms of. I mean, you shouldn't have to apologize. And I don't think anybody, obviously. I mean, they're probably listening, thinking, oh, my gosh, like, please don't apologize for something that you should. You had nothing to do with. Right. I think it goes again to a deeper level of overall medical evaluation. And, I mean, it truly takes it into the. You mentioned Metformin before, right? As a potential thing that a doctor was recommending for Arden. Well, I've even worked with a number of women who actually, I knew from all of their issues that they probably had pcos. Right. Polycystic ovarian syndrome. I could. I knew insulin resistance, all the things that they were having. I was like, just get a prescription for Metformin. Just get one. And I had a couple doctors tell them there's no reason for you to use this. I don't know why this would have been recommended. So, you know, I think from an overall. Sometimes you end up having to be your best. You do end up having to be your best advocate, but you also have to have an idea of where to start and when. You can say, like, you did, but this medicine is just a band aid. It's something that's going to cover up a symptom. I want to know why the symptom is here. Let's dig deeper. I want to find the reason that I'm having this or these symptoms and take care of the reason so I don't have to take six other things.

[A]

Yeah, well, I. I still don't know where Arden's path is going. To lead on this. Like, maybe she'll right end up on metformin because maybe she has pcos. Because that's one of the things that we. I mean, we looked into a PCOS clinic down south where they do. They do a. Like a surgery to try to correct it. And I mean, that's how bad things were. Like, they go in there and like, just. It's crazy. You know what I mean? And. But that's how far down the rabbit hole we were. We were like, you know, this pain is not stopping. Like, what's she going to do? So maybe, maybe. I have to say Dr. Bonino still said we want to give the Ovacetal more time on Arden's acne, but if it doesn't clear up the entire way, I don't think we're done yet. So we'll have to wait and see.

[B]

Yeah. Anyway, has her insulin. Since the enzymes especially. Has her. Have her insulin needs gone down? And I know you've adjusted.

[A]

Oh, Jennifer, they did. And then she went to college and now she's. Now she's eating, I think, Styrofoam sprinkled with high fructose corn syrup. So all the little things that we adjusted out of Arden's diet, like Dreamfield pasta instead of regular pasta or low fat, you know, I don't know, sauce that goes on something. It's. It's. Everything's frozen pizza and french fries. And so I have no idea. It took us weeks to, like, get on top of it because she kept saying, I can do this. Like, I can do it. But her blood Sugars were going 220 after meals. They weren't coming down. So finally, a little while ago, I called her up and I said, hey, Arden, listen, we need to talk for a minute. And she's like, okay. So we got on FaceTime, and I said, I know you're trying. I don't think you're not trying, but bolusing for this food is. It's hard. So why don't you let me help you a little bit? So we did Jenny's post date with loop, which worked really well. So big, big bolus up front for this. Whatever this disaster is they're feeding her. And then about 60 to, I don't know, about an hour to hour and a half later, about a 15 or 20 carb bolus. That the entry to give the loop some autonomy to make harsher, more. Yeah.

[B]

Decisions.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think. That's not something you can do with any other algorithm. Right?

[B]

It is. Not, no. The easiest I think is you can't, you can't forward stamp anything. In any other, in any other system. I think the closest would be knowing that something's coming. The ability to potentially start an extended bolus with control iq.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To hit out further. But even with that it's only a two hour extension and there's no visual to absorption of, of food. Right. That's where you know, the looping types of systems are very unique in that they truly do allow the system to still pay attention to why is this blood sugar where it is. There's still food in the system. Let's take care of this completely. Not just attack a blood sugar because the blood sugar is here. There's a reason behind it.

[A]

Can you see her graph? This is 24 hours. So we're back to it now. Right. But before, oh my God. Like I, I was like, we, we don't know. It's, it's the food. It took you a couple of days to figure it out because our settings, because she had, because of all these adjustments, she was using significantly less insulin all of a sudden. Then she started eating there and then I was like, oh my God, we've got to move everything back again. But I wasn't with her and it seemed like a lot to move it because what if it goes wrong? Like, you know what I mean? So we moved it really slowly over a couple of weeks which I, I'll tell you, I don't think back in the day I could have done it like that. But now I have a little more of a, like a long view. I'm like, it sucks that her blood sugar's high, but I'm not gonna, right, I'm not gonna have her pass out walking to class because we're, we move things too quickly.

[B]

No, not at all. I mean I, you know, college, I had none of the technology. I mean I was on injections in college and I had a glucometer that I carried around with me. So I didn't have any of the information. But even I found out really quickly what the difference between going to like the burger joint which wasn't, it was a veggie burger, so it wasn't really even a real burger. But the, the burger joint on campus versus going just to the cafeteria. I figured out pretty quickly that I just ended up living mostly on salads at school a lot of the time because they seemed to work out better from a standpoint of what I was finding on my next finger sticks.

[A]

Well, as I google the words. Freshman 15. College students have been warned about the dreaded freshman 15. The extra 15 pounds that so often accompany the first year of college. It turns out, from our experience, it's because the food is terrible.

[B]

Oh, it's.

[A]

And you're all making enough money to give the kids real food. Shouldn't be that hard. Right. And it's presented so nicely, Jenny.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

That you go through. Like, Arden looks like she's getting lunch at, you know, at the Taj Mahal. Yeah.

[B]

Fufu place.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then she sits down. She's like, this food is terrible. I'm like, okay. And then I. You know, finally, I'm like, send me pictures so I can help you with the thing. And I think at first, I think she's eating a lot of french fries. When she was like. Like when she first got there, I think she was a little. She had problems that I don't want to talk about on here. With a. With a roommate.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But there was a lot of anxiety in the first couple of weeks, and I think she was. I think she was treating the anxiety with the french fries.

[B]

With food.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And probably.

[A]

And then when I told her, I'm like, I need to see what you're eating, she wouldn't answer me. That's the first time that's ever happened. Arden, show me your plate. Like, not. No, she just didn't answer.

[B]

She just didn't answer you?

[A]

Yeah. And I was like, okay.

[B]

Does she do a lot? I mean, the food on campus, I'm curious if it even has any nutrition facts, or is she mostly estimating?

[A]

Well, she's estimating, but she just. She realized just a lot is the measurement she needs. So we so far have not given. Have not found a way to give her too much insulin. For a meal.

[B]

For a meal. Yeah. And I wonder if. I mean, you know, whether she'd use it or not depends on the person. But there are some really good visual apps. Like the Fig we app is really nice from a visual standpoint because you can adjust, like, you type french fries in, for example, and it shows you, like, a portion of french fries on a plate. And then you can adjust the portion. There's a little slide rule below the picture. You can make the portion on the plate look smaller, or you can make the pile of fries look larger. And right below it are all the nutrition facts. Carbs, proteins, fats, salt, everything.

[A]

What's it called?

[B]

Figwee F I G W E E. It's a great app. It's really sweet because instead of looking through, like, calorie king is the long term used one. But it's just a list and it might tell you three ounces or four pieces or whatever. And a lot of people, they don't know what 3 ounces looks like or even what a half a cup looks like anymore. So if you're looking through a list, you're going to get annoyed and irritated, and most teens and college students are not going to use that. But this being a visual, it's. It's really kind of sweet.

[A]

I'm looking. It's pretty cool. All right. We have no connection to that. Unless Jenny's making money and I don't know it.

[B]

Absolutely not. No. I've used it for a number of years, actually. I found it at a conference probably five or six years ago.

[A]

All right, well, I'm going to say one last thing here on the podcast. I am. And on the Facebook group and anywhere you've ever heard me talk about diabetes, I say, I don't care what you eat. It's not my business. I just want you to know how to bolus for it. But if you don't think that every once in a while, I don't go, you guys, like, what are you doing? Like, you can't. You can't eat every terrible thing and then say, I don't know what's happening. Like, right. You know, you can't put a cupcake on a piece of pizza and wash it down with a soda and go, can you believe my blood sugar went up? I Bolst. Like, it's. There are times when I. When I want to just say, come on. Like, please. And this happened. That feeling ended up being how we sort of figured out Arden's thing, right? Like, fats are sitting in her too long, stuff like, this is happening. Blah, blah, blah. She's not digesting it. And keeping in mind that the doctor wanted to give her a pill that he said would numb her stomach so it wouldn't hurt anymore.

[B]

See, again, covering a symptom. Yeah, he did cover up a symptom.

[A]

He didn't want to help her. He just. And by the way, on our first visit before the. The look down her stomach, he handed a samples in the room. Of course, I was like, this sucks. You know what I mean?

[B]

And that. That could be a whole episode all about highly.

[A]

They're highly recommended by a number of physicians that I know in the area.

[B]

Oh, sure.

[A]

That's how we ended up there. So, anyway. All right, Jenny, thank you so much for doing this with me.

[B]

Absolutely. Yes, always.

[A]

I'm going to thank Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G6 and remind you that you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial. Find out more at dexcom.com forward/juicebox and of course maybe you'll want a 30 day free trial of the dash and you're eligible. Could be. Maybe you're going to want to find out about the Omnipod 5 automated system. Either way, the link you want is omnipod.com forward/juicebox. I know it's the end of the year and people like it's the holidays. I'll wait till. Don't wait. Just don't wait. Just jump in, get going if it's what you want. There's no time like the President. Not the President, the present. There's no time like the present. Omnipod.com forward/juice box Links in the show notes links at Juice Box Podcast. Com I'd like to thank you so much for listening. Remind you that the private Facebook group is an amazing place to be. Juice box podcast, type 1 diabetes. Completely free Facebook group. Everything about the podcast is free. Thank you to the sponsors. That's why, that's why I have to charge you for episodes and stuff's not behind paywalls or how come I don't do like a 15 minute episode where I kind of tickle your ass with a feather but don't give you all the information, then drive you back to my website where I'm like, sign up for coaching. I don't do that crap. I'm not up for that. I don't like it. Everything, everything I offer is free. Go, go. Use the Facebook page. Meet the people. Build a community for yourself. I'll make sure it's there for you. And it's. It's a nice place to be. You go ahead and take advantage of it. Same with the podcast. All the episodes absolutely free. I my pleasure to make them. Seriously. Anyway, what am I supposed to say here? Thanks so much for listening. Come back soon. There'll be more episodes of the Juice Box Podcast. Please subscribe or follow in your podcast app. If you're not listening in a podcast app or an audio app, please check them out. Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music are some of the most popular ones. They work great. They're free. I think that's it, my friends. All right, I'll talk to you soon.