August 8, 2024 • 38 mins
Unlock the secrets to managing diabetes with Chet Galeska, author of "The Diabetes Book: What Everyone Should Know." Discover Chet’s personal journey from his diagnosis at age 29 to becoming a beacon of hope and knowledge for others. We tackle the fundamental differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, debunking the myth that type 2 is merely a result of being overweight, and reveal the true complexity of genetic and environmental factors at play.
Our conversation dives deep into the vital role of diet in diabetes management. Chet breaks down how genetics and dietary habits jointly impact blood sugar levels and offers practical advice on recognizing and limiting carbohydrate intake to prevent blood sugar spikes. Learn real-life strategies for adopting dietary changes that can have a significant positive impact on managing diabetes. We also touch on the dangers of hypoglycemia for those on insulin or specific medications, emphasizing the importance of being vigilant about blood sugar levels.
Finally, we pay tribute to the legendary Ron Santo, who silently battled type 1 diabetes throughout his storied baseball career. Chet shares inspiring stories that highlight the courage and resilience required to manage diabetes, while also addressing the emotional and psychological burdens faced by diabetics. We emphasize the urgency of spreading accurate information and raising awareness, directing listeners to valuable resources like challengediabetesus for further support and engagement. Join us for this eye-opening episode and become part of the movement to educate and support those living with diabetes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Gritty Hour.
I have a special guest today,chet Galeska, who is the author
of the diabetes book whatEveryone Should Know, which is
available on Amazon.
I'll show you that page laterfor our viewers.
And welcome to the Gritty Hour,chet.
(00:22):
Thank you, tom, pleasure to behere.
So I'm going to assume that youhave diabetes I do, and that's
how you got started on thisjourney of informing people
about it and you know what to doabout it, Yep, yeah.
So tell us how your journeybegan, sure.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
When I was 29 years old in 1981, I got type 1
diabetes.
So I got it later in lifebecause it used to be called
juvenile diabetes, but it turnsout that you can get it at any
time of life.
I happened to get it at 29, butthat means I've had it for over
40 years.
What I've learned is that thereis a lot of misinformation
(01:05):
about diabetes out there thatunfairly blames and shames
diabetics for having theirdisease.
There's a whole bunch of thingsthat contribute to that, and my
mission in retirement is tochange the way society thinks
about diabetes.
So that's why I'm on your show.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, what is some of the misconceptions?
Is it dietary, is it generic?
Is it genetic, I should say?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Or what is the Well, the biggest one is that type 2
diabetes, which about 95% ofpeople who have diabetes have
type 2.
Type 1 is the other 5% to 10%.
So we're really talking abouttype 2,.
When we're talking about thediabetes epidemic, people
generally think that people gettype 2 diabetes because they're
(01:51):
overweight, and that is just nottrue.
The weight becomes a factoronce you have the underlying
condition, but it does not causetype 2 diabetes.
Let me explain to you quicklyhow this all works, and
everything I say from now onwill make more sense if I do
that.
Sure, with normal people, whenyou digest food, it gets
(02:12):
digested into glucose.
Glucose is a simple sugar thatwinds up in your bloodstream,
goes all over your body and itenters your body cells that use
it for energy.
When your pancreas senses theglucose is in the blood, it
releases a hormone calledinsulin.
Insulin's job is to act as akey that opens up the cell walls
to allow the glucose to go intothe cells.
(02:35):
So two things happen.
One is the cells get the energythey need, but the other thing
is that the glucose leaves theblood.
So there's a balancing act thatgoes on automatically with
normal people that keeps theblood glucose level in a fairly
narrow range.
With diabetics, this isdisabled.
With type 2 diabetes, you get acondition called insulin
(02:58):
resistance, which is exactlywhat the name says.
It makes your body cellsresistant to insulin.
That means that your pancreashas to produce more insulin to
allow the glucose to leave theblood and get into the cells.
After a period of time, theoverworked pancreas starts to
lose its capacity.
The insulin-producing cells dieoff and it can no longer
(03:21):
produce enough insulin.
It's a tough thing because yourpancreas loses the ability to
produce as much insulin.
At the same time, insulinresistance automatically gets
worse.
So that's when diabetes happenswhen you have that shortage of
insulin all of a sudden, theglucose can't leave the blood,
so it stays there, and that'swhat diabetes is.
(03:46):
Now you might wonder.
You know our body uses glucosefor energy anyway.
So what's the problem withhaving too much in your blood?
If you look at it this way,it'll make sense.
If you take a glass of waterand stir sugar into it, what
happens?
The water gets sticky.
Well, you're doing the samething to your blood.
Your blood is getting stickybecause you've got that extra
(04:08):
glucose in there, and what thatdoes is it causes plaque to
build up in your circulatorysystem and that leads to all
kinds of problems, whether it'samputations, blindness, kidney
failure.
You know that is the root cause.
So that's in a nutshell whatdiabetes is and why it's a
problem.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So the cause of it, though, is it?
I guess the most commonmisconception is someone who
eats a lot of sugar.
Is that attributing factor, doyou think?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, here's the thing, tom, and this is one of
the confusing things aboutdiabetes.
Well, here's the thing, tom,and this is one of the confusing
things about diabetes theunderlying cause of both type 1
and type 2 happens when agenetic predisposition
encounters something in theenvironment that triggers it.
We just had a study completedby the University of
Massachusetts that identifiedover 100 genes that can cause
(05:04):
type 2 diabetes.
So that the genes are out there.
The triggers are not anywherenearly as well understood as the
genetic part of it is.
We don't really know what thetriggers are, and they probably
vary from person to person.
So it's not like you can saywell, you've got the genes, so
avoid doing ABC, because youdon't even know what ABC are.
(05:25):
So it's kind of a random thingthat will trigger it.
Once that happens, you'lldevelop insulin resistance, and
insulin resistance is notcurable.
So once you've got it, you haveto deal with it, and the way
you deal with it is by limitingthe amount of sugar you put into
(05:46):
your body and also by becomingphysically active, because
physical activity really helpscontrol your blood glucose level
.
So you have to learn aboutthese things so that you're able
to implement them.
If you can do that, you canlive a long, healthy life.
Now here's the confusing part.
We keep hearing that you canprevent diabetes or you can
(06:10):
reverse diabetes, or even thatyou can cure diabetes, but it's
a confusing way to put it.
The terms prediabetes anddiabetes are just benchmarks
that show how high your bloodglucose level is.
If you have insulin resistance,your blood glucose level will
rise and when it gets over acertain level, pre-diabetes is
(06:32):
diagnosed.
It just means your blood sugaris higher than normal.
If it gets even higher, thenyou say it's diabetes.
So they're both caused by thesame underlying condition.
So they're both caused by thesame underlying condition and
they're both treated the sameway with diet, exercise and
medication.
That's what makes it confusing.
(06:54):
When you hear, gee, you couldcure it, people wonder, well,
why don't you?
But the fact is that when theysay cure, what they mean isn't
that you've dealt with it andyou never have to worry about it
again, which is what we thinkof when we think of cures.
What they mean by that is thatyou've managed to keep your
blood glucose level below thediabetes threshold for a certain
(07:15):
amount of time, whatever thattime may be it might be a year
If you're able to do that, thenthey'll throw the term cure at
you.
But you're only keeping it lowbecause you're watching your
diet, you're exercising andyou're taking the right
medications.
If you stop doing those things,you'll be uncured in a
heartbeat.
So it's really one of theconfusing things out there that
(07:37):
leads people to think thatdiabetics are irresponsible.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Right, so there's three predominant stages
pre-diabetes stage, type 2diabetes and then type 1?
.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, the two are totally different diseases.
Okay, okay, the term diabetessimply means high blood sugar.
Type 1 is an autoimmune disease.
That's what I have.
Okay, immune disease, that'swhat I have In my case.
My body's immune system hasturned on my pancreas and it's
killed off the insulin producingcells.
(08:10):
So I don't produce any insulin.
So, at least for me, thetreatment is pretty
straightforward you need insulin.
So, unfortunately, insulinbreaks down in digestion, so you
have to take it throughinjections, which is really not
a big deal.
By the way, people I know I washorrified when I first was told
that's what I had to do.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
people with fear of needles yeah yeah, but you know,
with modern technology, youknow the needles are short,
they're lubricated, they're fine.
It's just not that big a deal.
Right, you know I can get intoother new technologies that are
even better, but it's a diseasethat you can take care of.
But you have to know whatyou're doing to do it
(08:55):
effectively.
So type 1 is autoimmune, Type 2, as I explained, is insulin
resistance.
So they're really two differentthings.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So, just because I'm a little confused.
So the type 2 diabetes?
Your body still generates theinsulin, but it's resistant to
it.
It does, and in type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't produce
insulin at all.
Right, I see.
Now what's the differencebetween pre-diabetes and
(09:23):
diabetes?
What's the difference?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
between pre-diabetes and diabetes.
Pre-diabetes range I think it'sfrom well normal blood sugar is
.
If you use a measurement calledthe A1C it's something that
measures your average bloodsugar over the previous three
months Right?
Normal people have one, an A1Cof 5.7 or below, and I'm a
little fuzzy on the figures Ishould have in front of me.
(09:46):
That's okay, but just to giveyou an example of how this works
normal is below 5.7.
If you're over 5.7, that's whenthey diagnose prediabetes you
can say your blood sugar ishigher than normal.
You know, prediabetes may runfrom 5.7 to 6.1, something like
that.
Once you get over that 6.1threshold, then they say you've
(10:11):
got a higher blood sugar andthis is high enough to be called
diabetes, I see.
So what they really are isbenchmarks.
You know, they're not really.
Pre-diabetes and diabetesaren't different diseases,
they're just different grades ofthe same disease Understood.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Okay so, but does that?
Does that norm what you said?
The normal range is that changewith the person's age Like is
normal for one age groupdifferent from another age group
?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
No, normal is normal, yeah, but as you get older they
become more lenient with whatthe targets are.
I see you know, if you'reyounger your target's going to
be to have it around 6.9.
Anything under 7.0 is goodcontrol for a diabetic.
So that's higher than normal,but it's low enough to let you
(11:03):
live a healthy life, right.
As you get older it gets harderfor type 2s, especially because
they have progressively lostmore and more and more of their
capacity to produce insulin, atthe same time slowing down
because they're older, they'renot getting the kind of physical
activity they really need andplus, they're reaching closer to
(11:25):
the end of their life anyway.
So the medical communityrelaxes those standards and
they'll tell you well, you knowwell, for you 7.5, high 7s is
okay.
So the standards change in thatregard.
I understand, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I just want to talk about culture for a second.
I'm sure in your research ormaybe you haven't the difference
between, say, you're inMassachusetts, I'm in New York,
haven't the difference between,say you're in Massachusetts, I'm
in New York.
So the difference between NorthAmerica versus other parts of
the world, is there adiscernible difference between
the rate of diabetes among thepopulations?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, there is, and actually within North America
there's a difference in the raceof diabetes.
There are certain ethnic andracial groups that are more
prone to type 2 diabetes.
Black people, latinos, nativeAmericans, asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders are all moresusceptible to type 2.
(12:25):
And again, that's a geneticthing.
Now, diet may play a role too,because if you're in a culture
that eats a lot of carbohydratesand a lot of sugars, well
that's going to accelerate yourprocess of getting to a diabetic
blood glucose level.
But as far as getting in thefirst place goes, certainly
(12:48):
genes play a big role.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Right.
I think a lot of diseases canattribute that to genetics.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know, Tom, as time goes on, it really seems
that way.
It seems like an awful lot isgenetic.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, it just passed down Historically.
I don't know.
You probably don't know becausethey didn't really document it
back in the day as well as theydo now.
In the last 100 years or so,you know how predominant
diabetes was among thepopulation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't know what the origin of the tracking of it is
, but Well, I couldn't give youpercentages, but I can tell you
that diabetes has been diagnosedfor thousands of years.
The Egyptians knew about it, infact what they would do, not
(13:40):
the Egyptians, but later on, asdoctors, learn more about
diabetes.
They had people that werecalled water tasters and they
would have them taste the urineof patients, and if the urine
tasted sugary, they knew theyhad diabetes and they would tell
them you're going to die.
You know there's no urine andyou're going to die.
So they wouldn't spend theirtime trying to treat people who
(14:03):
were hopeless Right.
And it stayed that way until1925, when, you know, after
three decades, after theydiscovered that the pancreas
produced whatever the substancewas to control blood sugar.
30 years later they managed torefine it enough and identify it
so that it could be used fortreatment.
But up until 1925, if you haddiabetes, you were going to die.
(14:26):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
No matter what type two or type one, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Either way, it's like I mentioned earlier you put
that sugar in your bloodstreamand it's going to do the damage.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Right, right.
So diet does take a—geneticsdoes play a role, but diet also
plays a role.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Well, once you get the underlying condition, diet's
huge Understood, because thegame then is to keep your blood
sugar level as low as possible.
If you can keep it below thediabetic range, that's wonderful
.
I mean, it's hard to do, butit's wonderful if you can do it
and, believe it or not, thereare people who are knowledgeable
(15:07):
enough and strong-willed enoughto do that just with diet and
exercise.
Most people don't have thosecapacities, but it can be done.
But what we need to do, withdiet especially, is try to limit
the amount of sugar you'reactually eating, because the
easiest way to keep your bloodsugar from rising is not to
(15:29):
raise it in the first place.
I mean, to keep it in controlis to not let it rise in the
first place, and the way you dothat is to identify the foods
that are going to raise yourblood sugar.
Now, obviously, sugar is a bigthing to stay away from, but the
thing that's lost on manypeople is that carbohydrates,
(15:50):
which include starches, alsoraise the blood sugar.
In fact, sugar and starches arethe two forms of carbohydrate.
Sugar is sweet.
You know it when you're eatingit.
Starches are not, but if youeat a slice of bread that is a
starch.
It will raise your blood sugarjust as much as the sugar would.
(16:12):
In fact, one gram of starchequals one gram of sugar.
That one gram of starch getsdigested into one gram of sugar,
so you can't think you'regetting.
You know you can eat all thebread you want, because you
can't.
It's just like eating sugar.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Right, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right, yeah, it's yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Well, this is.
You know, diet can really be acomplicated subject and I
developed a diabetes course thatI gave before COVID and I gave
it in colleges and universitiesand civic groups and all kinds
(16:52):
of places universities and civicgroups and all kinds of places
and what I realized is thatnutrition can be so complicated
that it blows people away andthey don't really understand
what they have to do.
But what I tell people to do isexactly what I do.
I take a look at what I'meating.
If you look at your diet, mostof us have breakfast that stay
pretty much the same.
Lunches are pretty much thesame.
Lunches are pretty much thesame.
(17:12):
Dinners will vary more, butover the course of a month
you're going to have the samethings repeat.
What you need to do is take alook at what you're really
eating and identify where thecarbohydrates are.
Once you do that, then you say,well, okay, you know, if I eat
more egg and less bread, youknow that's going to help me.
You can make those kinds oftrade-offs once you understand
(17:35):
what they are Right.
One woman in a class I gave toldme that she couldn't keep her
blood sugars below 200, which ispretty high.
Normal is 70 to 130.
But she explained that herhusband worked the second shift
and he liked to have dinner.
When he came home after workshe liked to have dinner with
him.
He liked pasta, so she waseating pasta every night.
(17:58):
Well, pasta's a seriouscarbohydrate.
So I told her you know, just forthe next week, eat something
different.
You know, don't eat the pasta.
You know we recommend, you know, some sort of meat.
You could eat eggs.
Anything that's protein won'traise your blood sugar.
Eat something that's not thathigh carbohydrate.
(18:18):
She came back in a week andsaid her blood sugars were down
to 110.
Wow, so that's the kind ofthing that you can identify.
A lot of times it's low-hangingfruit like that where you say
man, even soda.
You might say, well, maybe Ishould stop drinking two liters
of sugared soda every day.
I know people who do that, notdiabetics, but I know people who
(18:40):
do that.
So you know, those are thekinds of things you can do.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But when you have diabetes and maybe I'm wrong for
example, you can have low bloodsugar levels as well in
diabetes, like I've heard aboutpeople, you know they'll have a
Hershey bar if they're feelingfainter.
They know their blood pressureis too low.
They'll have a Hershey bar toget it back to some semblance of
(19:05):
normalcy.
Explain that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, sure.
What happens with that is thatwhen you take insulin, like I do
, or certain type 2 medications,you can have low blood sugars.
The problem is that when yourblood sugar gets too low, the
brain gets affected.
Unlike other tissues in thebody, the brain takes glucose
(19:29):
directly from the blood as it'sneeded.
The body, the brain, takesglucose directly from the blood
as it's needed.
So if your blood sugar is low,the brain isn't getting the
energy from the glucose that itneeds and things start to go
haywire.
You can start sweating, you canlose your coordination, your
eyesight can get funky to whereyou're seeing double or triple.
If it gets too low, you canpass out.
So it's a serious thing.
(19:51):
But you mentioned the Hersheybar.
It's easily treatable.
All you have to do is eatsomething sugary to boost that
blood glucose level back up andthen the brain comes right back
online.
So it's not hard to cure.
But you have to realize whenit's happening and eat that
sugar.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Right.
So it might be the medicationyou're on that causes the low
blood sugar, not so much thediabetes itself.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Well, it's a little more complicated than just the
medication.
It's a balancing act betweenmedication, diet and exercise.
Now you're going to take thesame medication, so that's not
going to change.
What is going to change is howmuch carbohydrate you've eaten
and how physically active you'vebeen.
Now, if you haven't eaten muchcarbohydrate at all and you've
(20:41):
been physically active, you know, number one, the glucose hasn't
been put into your bloodstreamin the first place, and number
two, your activity has droppedit down even farther.
So it's that that's causing it,not the medication per se.
The medication will set thestage to make that possible, but
it doesn't actually cause it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I understand.
Okay, Now do you know, like aballpark figure, what percentage
of the US population, forexample, has diabetes, whether
it be type 1, type 2, orpre-diabetic?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yes, it's between 10% and 15%.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
For some reason, I thought it was higher than that.
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, you hear these figures kicked around, that you
know 30% of people are projectedto have diabetes, and that I
don't know how they do that, butit's been between 10 and 15%
for quite a long time.
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Well, obviously, you being a victim of it, do you
call yourself a victim of it?
Is that the right?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
term.
Okay, no, I don't.
I don't like that terminologyat all.
Okay, I'm a person who has achallenge in life that I can
deal with, right, and it couldbe a lot worse.
So, you know, victim to mesounds like you got hit by a car
, you know?
(22:04):
I mean, I have a challenge andyou know what, tom, nobody's
perfect.
We're all dealing with onething or another, right, you
know.
You just got to realize thatthis is what it is and do what
you got to do.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Right.
Well, having diabetes, you madeyourself well-versed in it and
you did write a book that I'dlike to.
Just, if you don't mind, I'mjust going to share your Amazon
page for that book real quick,called the Diabetes Book what
you Should Know, what EveryoneShould Know, who has Diabetes.
Just based on the reviews andthe ratings, it's been
(22:45):
well-received by the population.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat made you write the book.
The population.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So tell us a little bit about what made you write
the book.
What prompted me to do this atall is that I was in Chicago
during the week when Ron Chiantawas inducted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame.
He had type 1 diabetes, so hewas taking insulin, and we just
talked about low blood sugar.
Ron is in a game.
Last of the ninth Cubs are downby two.
(23:16):
There's two outs and two men onbase.
Santos in the on-deck circle.
Then he starts feeling lowblood sugar coming on.
So he just prays that the guyat the plate will make an out
and retire the side so he canget back to the dugout and eat
his Snickers bar.
Well, the guy walked, so Santossaid.
He walked up to the plate.
(23:36):
He looked up and he saw threepitchers, three scoreboards,
30-some-odd people standing outin the field, and when the
pitcher threw the ball it lookedlike it had a slinky attached
to it.
So he took a cut at itconnected and put it out of the
park for a walk-off Grand Slamhome run.
So he made it around the basesand got back to the dugout in
(23:57):
time to eat his candy bar.
And so nobody was the wiseruntil 10 years later, when they
had Ron Santo Day at WrigleyField and he told the public
that he had been diabetic forall those years.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Wow, His whole career .
He was year type one.
His whole career, Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Wow, yep, he got it before he went to training camp
the first year he played.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So you know people think that the walk-off grand
slam home run, that's a greatstory.
I mean, if I did something likethat, I'd be talking about that
to everybody I knew forever.
But that's not really the bigstory.
For anybody who's experiencedlow blood sugar, you know the
big story was what was going onin Santo's mind as he's making
(24:41):
it around the bases.
You know he could have passedout in front of 20,000 screaming
fans and his secret would havebeen out of the bag, Right.
So that's what the realpressure was.
So I came home and startedtelling that story and what I
discovered was two things.
One is that most people don'tunderstand diabetes well at all
(25:03):
and they believe a lot of untruethings about it.
So it's a mess what the publicthinks about diabetes and
diabetics, Right.
The other was that I could talkabout type 1, but I was asked
about type 2 as well, and what Idiscovered is that most of what
I thought about type 2 waswrong.
And that's when I realized thatour society has got a real
(25:26):
problem with misperceptionsabout diabetes.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And that's when I decided you know, this is a big
problem.
I retired a few years after Iwas in Chicago and I decided to
make this my retirement project.
So that's why I'm doing it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn
more or maybe has diabetesthemselves.
The book to anyone who wants tolearn more or maybe has
diabetes themselves, just go onAmazon and I'll have a link in
the show notes for this book,and you've already dispelled a
lot of the misconceptions I'vehad in the short time we've been
talking, or at least explained.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Well, tom, you are much better educated about
diabetes right now than probably90% of the people out there,
right?
Even a lot of diabetics don'tknow the things I just explained
to you, right?
In fact, one of the mostgratifying things that would
happen to me when I was doingthe courses in person is that
(26:29):
diabetics would come up to meafterwards and tell me that the
best thing I told them was thatthey didn't cause it.
You can see the guilt and shamedrip off their faces because
for all this time, they've beenwalking around thinking that,
well, I'm a little overweight,I'm not eating right, and I
brought it on myself, and youknow that it's just too bad.
(26:50):
I was so irresponsible, sopeople beat themselves up over
things that they didn't causeright, I was just that's.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
The main thing that I thought when you were talking
about the ron santos story washow he actually wanted to hide
it during his career.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So back then there was shame attached right to uh,
you know, Tom, there's still ashame attached to it.
Now, if you had themisconceptions that diabetics
got it because they wereirresponsible, you no longer
think that you know different.
But a lot of people stillbelieve that diabetics got it
(27:30):
because they ate too much sugaror they were lazy or they were
overweight and all that stuffthat points the finger at a
person who's got a disease thatthey got because of the genetics
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Sure, I would think, knowing what can happen again to
the Ron Santos story, it's gotto cause anxiety in a lot of
people that have diabetes.
What may happen if their bloodsugar goes down or goes too high
or too low.
It's got to cause anxiety tothem.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Well, it does.
But this is where educationcomes in.
Once you know what to look forand you get used to dealing with
this disease, you can manage it.
Right Now, I've had this forwhat's the math?
43 years, 1981, 19, 2024.
(28:23):
Yep, and I'm doing fine.
You know I've had some lowblood sugars, but not a whole
lot, because I'm aware enough ofit to take care of it before it
gets serious.
But that's what you have to do.
You have to learn about it andtake action when it's needed.
Same thing with what you'reeating.
And, by the way, with eating,the thing that causes the damage
(28:45):
is not temporary spikes inblood sugar, it's the average
blood sugar.
Like I mentioned about the A1C,the reason they use that is
that it measures the averageover three months.
Because it's the average, youcan have some food you really
like eating that are highcarbohydrate once in a while.
You want to have an ice creamsundae?
(29:05):
You want to eat a plate ofspaghetti once in a while?
You can do it.
You can treat yourself, youknow, just get it back down
Right.
The point is that you can eatwhat you want, but you can't
make a regular diet out of thestuff that's going to keep your
blood sugar high.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Right, you can live whole and happy and just keep it
under control.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And you know something when you think about
it.
What I just said, doesn't thatmake sense for everybody?
Sure, I mean really, I'm notasking you to do something.
That's extraordinarily hardRight.
Most people should do it.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I did ask my doctor about the A1C.
They always check your blood,you know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And I just had a physical a couple weeks ago and
thankfully it's in a good range.
But I said, what if I like,don't eat for three days before
the physical he goes.
You would have to stop eatingeverything for six months
because the A1C picks that up,you know.
(30:06):
So my next doctor's appointmentis the day after New Year's.
I can't imagine what the hellthat's going to be.
Well, but anyway.
But I know you did this.
The predominant reason you madethis book, which a lot of
people have enjoyed, is to justraise awareness of how diabetes
(30:28):
is caused and what diabetics cando.
How diabetes is caused and whatdiabetics can do.
As you said, even diabetics areunaware of everything they can
do to control the disease.
Yeah, what I wanted to say wasyou also have your own website,
which I don't know if.
Can you see that page there?
Yeah, I can Okay?
(30:50):
ChallengeDiabetesus, which I'massuming.
This is the ron santos story,the first video here, exactly,
yeah uh, so right it is.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
It is it an amazing story?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
yeah, it's a great story.
I'm a baseball fan.
Well, I'm a math fan.
Uh, are you a red sox fan?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
or a cubs fan actually I'm a new york giants
fan.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Ah, just like my pop was a New York Giants fan.
That's why everybody in myfamily has met fans, because
they moved to San Francisco, youknow?
Yeah, right, right, yeah.
So tell us a little about thiswebsite, chet.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, there are two big things on it.
One is that on Facebook, I posta one-minute video every week
that hits a diabetes issue.
So after I post them onFacebook, I post them on the
website too, so that there's abunch of them there and there's
(31:48):
going to be more as time goes on.
But, even more importantly, Icreated a couple of videos.
One is about the misinformationabout diabetes and the other is
called the nuts and bolts ofdealing with diabetes.
They're less than a half anhour long.
Oh, there you go and you can seethe prices there.
(32:10):
They're cheap.
You can rent them for $1.99 fortwo weeks and really get
yourself some basic educationabout diabetes.
What I'm hoping is that notjust diabetics, but people who
love diabetics and care aboutthem whether it's your spouse or
somebody you live with or arelative diabetics and care
(32:32):
about them.
You know whether it's yourspouse or somebody you live with
or a relative.
It's a good way just to geteverybody knowledgeable enough
about it to understand whatyou're dealing with and to help
out in a realistic way.
Right, if you scroll down alittle farther, you can get both
of them for, you know, $2.99.
You can watch both of them fortwo weeks, that's a great deal.
Yeah, you know, I wish I couldgive them away, but I do have
(32:54):
expenses, oh sure it costs moneyto make these things and to put
them online.
Yeah, but the goal here is toeducate everybody and the other
thing, in addition to diabeticsand those who care about them as
a general public, I would loveto have people watch these in
groups, because what that willdo is replicate the courses that
(33:16):
I used to give pre-COVID.
You watch the video for a halfhour and then people can talk
about it, and what I alwaysfound is that some of the
stories that people come up withof things they've had to deal
with are pretty powerful, andthat's what will happen if you
watch these in a groupsomebody's going to have some
stories to tell, so it turnsinto a very interesting and
(33:39):
informative program right, isthis uh what?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
what did you say?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
you come out with uh a new video every week yeah, if
you go to the, see the clips onthe far right there.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Ah, the one.
Okay, the little shorts okay.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, they're just little clips and you can see the
titles there.
You know, like I talked aboutthe sugar and water, there's a
little one on that.
Yeah, how normal.
But you know some of the stuffthat you and I already talked
about.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Right?
Well, that's great.
It's great that you're doingthis for folks and this part of
it is free, right?
Yes, but I would recommend isthere a way to subscribe to this
page where they can getnotified?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, but they're always going to be up there.
If you just go to the website,they'll be there.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Okay, that's a great idea and great on you for doing
that.
This is the book, again that wediscussed, the diabetes book.
It's in paperback now, right,yeah, yeah.
So a lot of people have readabout it, so it's just a
phenomenal idea.
And again, even people whodon't have diabetes I think, if
(34:55):
that's a correct estimate, 15%of the population.
I can't imagine there's nobodythat doesn't know somebody that
has diabetes.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
You know everybody either has it, knows somebody
who does, or feels guilty.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Right.
So even if it's somebody like afriend of yours or someone in
your family and, as you said, ifit's one of your loved ones,
you want to know more about ityourself so you can help them,
or help them commiserate ifyou'd like, or whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well, you know it gives you some good advice.
Like you know, diabetes is ahard thing and you do have
flexibility.
As I said, you can have yourbowl of pasta once in a while.
That's not a problem.
But in the diabetes world thereare people called the diabetes
police.
These are people who, if you'reat a Christmas party and they
(35:52):
spot you eating a cookie,they're likely to come over and
say you know, are you sure youshould be eating that?
Well, yeah, you know, I gotthis, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Get off my back.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
You know one thing is you know understand enough
about the disease to know thatdiabetics are not going to die
because they eat sugar, Right?
No, it's not a poison.
It's not like you're takingcyanide, Right.
You know, it's a question ofbalance and as long as you keep
that average down, you're goingto be okay.
I had a woman in one of myclasses who told me that her
(36:25):
aunt had diabetes and this womanand her sister would go into
the aunt's house and they wouldtrack down every piece of candy
she had hidden around the house.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
They would go into her dresser drawer, Excuse me,
Don't tell me they'd emptied outthe candy from the dresser
drawer.
That always happens, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
They took every piece of candy they could find, they
confiscated it, yeah, and gaveher a hard time for having it.
And I told her you know, youreally got to understand a
little more about diabetes andthe fact that if your aunt wants
to have a piece of candy oncein a while, it's not going to
kill her.
Give her a break, you know.
Right, but that kind ofbehavior really is unacceptable,
(37:11):
right.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Right, but that kind of behavior really is
unacceptable, right?
So this is your mission to justmake the general population
more aware of diabetes, andyou've already made me more
aware just in the short timewe've been talking, and I do
appreciate that.
But I would like to, if youdon't mind, put this website up
(37:32):
on the show noteschallengediabetesus, and I would
definitely recommend peoplevisit that and if they have a
question after watching thevideos, or maybe the shorts, or
they rent the videos can theycontact you via that website.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Absolutely.
Yeah, there's a contact us formthere.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, just give me your information and I'll be in
touch.
Yeah, I'm sure people have donethat already and I'm sure
you're forthcoming with whatever.
You answer it the best way youcan, it's what I do.
Yeah, well, you do it well, andI not only appreciate you doing
that for people, but I alsoappreciate you coming on the
Gritty Hour tonight, and if youhave something else coming down
(38:18):
the road, just reach out to me.
We'll have you back and we'lldiscuss this topic further.
Appreciate it.
Okay, I do appreciate it too,chet.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
All right, have a good nightyou too.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Gritty Hour.
I have a special guest today,chet Galeska, who is the author
of the diabetes book whatEveryone Should Know, which is
available on Amazon.
I'll show you that page laterfor our viewers.
And welcome to the Gritty Hour,chet.
(00:22):
Thank you, tom, pleasure to behere.
So I'm going to assume that youhave diabetes I do, and that's
how you got started on thisjourney of informing people
about it and you know what to doabout it, Yep, yeah.
So tell us how your journeybegan, sure.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
When I was 29 years old in 1981, I got type 1
diabetes.
So I got it later in lifebecause it used to be called
juvenile diabetes, but it turnsout that you can get it at any
time of life.
I happened to get it at 29, butthat means I've had it for over
40 years.
What I've learned is that thereis a lot of misinformation
(01:05):
about diabetes out there thatunfairly blames and shames
diabetics for having theirdisease.
There's a whole bunch of thingsthat contribute to that, and my
mission in retirement is tochange the way society thinks
about diabetes.
So that's why I'm on your show.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, what is some of the misconceptions?
Is it dietary, is it generic?
Is it genetic, I should say?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Or what is the Well, the biggest one is that type 2
diabetes, which about 95% ofpeople who have diabetes have
type 2.
Type 1 is the other 5% to 10%.
So we're really talking abouttype 2,.
When we're talking about thediabetes epidemic, people
generally think that people gettype 2 diabetes because they're
(01:51):
overweight, and that is just nottrue.
The weight becomes a factoronce you have the underlying
condition, but it does not causetype 2 diabetes.
Let me explain to you quicklyhow this all works, and
everything I say from now onwill make more sense if I do
that.
Sure, with normal people, whenyou digest food, it gets
(02:12):
digested into glucose.
Glucose is a simple sugar thatwinds up in your bloodstream,
goes all over your body and itenters your body cells that use
it for energy.
When your pancreas senses theglucose is in the blood, it
releases a hormone calledinsulin.
Insulin's job is to act as akey that opens up the cell walls
to allow the glucose to go intothe cells.
(02:35):
So two things happen.
One is the cells get the energythey need, but the other thing
is that the glucose leaves theblood.
So there's a balancing act thatgoes on automatically with
normal people that keeps theblood glucose level in a fairly
narrow range.
With diabetics, this isdisabled.
With type 2 diabetes, you get acondition called insulin
(02:58):
resistance, which is exactlywhat the name says.
It makes your body cellsresistant to insulin.
That means that your pancreashas to produce more insulin to
allow the glucose to leave theblood and get into the cells.
After a period of time, theoverworked pancreas starts to
lose its capacity.
The insulin-producing cells dieoff and it can no longer
(03:21):
produce enough insulin.
It's a tough thing because yourpancreas loses the ability to
produce as much insulin.
At the same time, insulinresistance automatically gets
worse.
So that's when diabetes happenswhen you have that shortage of
insulin all of a sudden, theglucose can't leave the blood,
so it stays there, and that'swhat diabetes is.
(03:46):
Now you might wonder.
You know our body uses glucosefor energy anyway.
So what's the problem withhaving too much in your blood?
If you look at it this way,it'll make sense.
If you take a glass of waterand stir sugar into it, what
happens?
The water gets sticky.
Well, you're doing the samething to your blood.
Your blood is getting stickybecause you've got that extra
(04:08):
glucose in there, and what thatdoes is it causes plaque to
build up in your circulatorysystem and that leads to all
kinds of problems, whether it'samputations, blindness, kidney
failure.
You know that is the root cause.
So that's in a nutshell whatdiabetes is and why it's a
problem.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So the cause of it, though, is it?
I guess the most commonmisconception is someone who
eats a lot of sugar.
Is that attributing factor, doyou think?
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, here's the thing, tom, and this is one of
the confusing things aboutdiabetes.
Well, here's the thing, tom,and this is one of the confusing
things about diabetes theunderlying cause of both type 1
and type 2 happens when agenetic predisposition
encounters something in theenvironment that triggers it.
We just had a study completedby the University of
Massachusetts that identifiedover 100 genes that can cause
(05:04):
type 2 diabetes.
So that the genes are out there.
The triggers are not anywherenearly as well understood as the
genetic part of it is.
We don't really know what thetriggers are, and they probably
vary from person to person.
So it's not like you can saywell, you've got the genes, so
avoid doing ABC, because youdon't even know what ABC are.
(05:25):
So it's kind of a random thingthat will trigger it.
Once that happens, you'lldevelop insulin resistance, and
insulin resistance is notcurable.
So once you've got it, you haveto deal with it, and the way
you deal with it is by limitingthe amount of sugar you put into
(05:46):
your body and also by becomingphysically active, because
physical activity really helpscontrol your blood glucose level
.
So you have to learn aboutthese things so that you're able
to implement them.
If you can do that, you canlive a long, healthy life.
Now here's the confusing part.
We keep hearing that you canprevent diabetes or you can
(06:10):
reverse diabetes, or even thatyou can cure diabetes, but it's
a confusing way to put it.
The terms prediabetes anddiabetes are just benchmarks
that show how high your bloodglucose level is.
If you have insulin resistance,your blood glucose level will
rise and when it gets over acertain level, pre-diabetes is
(06:32):
diagnosed.
It just means your blood sugaris higher than normal.
If it gets even higher, thenyou say it's diabetes.
So they're both caused by thesame underlying condition.
So they're both caused by thesame underlying condition and
they're both treated the sameway with diet, exercise and
medication.
That's what makes it confusing.
(06:54):
When you hear, gee, you couldcure it, people wonder, well,
why don't you?
But the fact is that when theysay cure, what they mean isn't
that you've dealt with it andyou never have to worry about it
again, which is what we thinkof when we think of cures.
What they mean by that is thatyou've managed to keep your
blood glucose level below thediabetes threshold for a certain
(07:15):
amount of time, whatever thattime may be it might be a year
If you're able to do that, thenthey'll throw the term cure at
you.
But you're only keeping it lowbecause you're watching your
diet, you're exercising andyou're taking the right
medications.
If you stop doing those things,you'll be uncured in a
heartbeat.
So it's really one of theconfusing things out there that
(07:37):
leads people to think thatdiabetics are irresponsible.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Right, so there's three predominant stages
pre-diabetes stage, type 2diabetes and then type 1?
.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No, the two are totally different diseases.
Okay, okay, the term diabetessimply means high blood sugar.
Type 1 is an autoimmune disease.
That's what I have.
Okay, immune disease, that'swhat I have In my case.
My body's immune system hasturned on my pancreas and it's
killed off the insulin producingcells.
(08:10):
So I don't produce any insulin.
So, at least for me, thetreatment is pretty
straightforward you need insulin.
So, unfortunately, insulinbreaks down in digestion, so you
have to take it throughinjections, which is really not
a big deal.
By the way, people I know I washorrified when I first was told
that's what I had to do.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
people with fear of needles yeah yeah, but you know,
with modern technology, youknow the needles are short,
they're lubricated, they're fine.
It's just not that big a deal.
Right, you know I can get intoother new technologies that are
even better, but it's a diseasethat you can take care of.
But you have to know whatyou're doing to do it
(08:55):
effectively.
So type 1 is autoimmune, Type 2, as I explained, is insulin
resistance.
So they're really two differentthings.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So, just because I'm a little confused.
So the type 2 diabetes?
Your body still generates theinsulin, but it's resistant to
it.
It does, and in type 1 diabetes, the body doesn't produce
insulin at all.
Right, I see.
Now what's the differencebetween pre-diabetes and
(09:23):
diabetes?
What's the difference?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
between pre-diabetes and diabetes.
Pre-diabetes range I think it'sfrom well normal blood sugar is
.
If you use a measurement calledthe A1C it's something that
measures your average bloodsugar over the previous three
months Right?
Normal people have one, an A1Cof 5.7 or below, and I'm a
little fuzzy on the figures Ishould have in front of me.
(09:46):
That's okay, but just to giveyou an example of how this works
normal is below 5.7.
If you're over 5.7, that's whenthey diagnose prediabetes you
can say your blood sugar ishigher than normal.
You know, prediabetes may runfrom 5.7 to 6.1, something like
that.
Once you get over that 6.1threshold, then they say you've
(10:11):
got a higher blood sugar andthis is high enough to be called
diabetes, I see.
So what they really are isbenchmarks.
You know, they're not really.
Pre-diabetes and diabetesaren't different diseases,
they're just different grades ofthe same disease Understood.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Okay so, but does that?
Does that norm what you said?
The normal range is that changewith the person's age Like is
normal for one age groupdifferent from another age group
?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
No, normal is normal, yeah, but as you get older they
become more lenient with whatthe targets are.
I see you know, if you'reyounger your target's going to
be to have it around 6.9.
Anything under 7.0 is goodcontrol for a diabetic.
So that's higher than normal,but it's low enough to let you
(11:03):
live a healthy life, right.
As you get older it gets harderfor type 2s, especially because
they have progressively lostmore and more and more of their
capacity to produce insulin, atthe same time slowing down
because they're older, they'renot getting the kind of physical
activity they really need andplus, they're reaching closer to
(11:25):
the end of their life anyway.
So the medical communityrelaxes those standards and
they'll tell you well, you knowwell, for you 7.5, high 7s is
okay.
So the standards change in thatregard.
I understand, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I just want to talk about culture for a second.
I'm sure in your research ormaybe you haven't the difference
between, say, you're inMassachusetts, I'm in New York,
haven't the difference between,say you're in Massachusetts, I'm
in New York.
So the difference between NorthAmerica versus other parts of
the world, is there adiscernible difference between
the rate of diabetes among thepopulations?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, there is, and actually within North America
there's a difference in the raceof diabetes.
There are certain ethnic andracial groups that are more
prone to type 2 diabetes.
Black people, latinos, nativeAmericans, asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders are all moresusceptible to type 2.
(12:25):
And again, that's a geneticthing.
Now, diet may play a role too,because if you're in a culture
that eats a lot of carbohydratesand a lot of sugars, well
that's going to accelerate yourprocess of getting to a diabetic
blood glucose level.
But as far as getting in thefirst place goes, certainly
(12:48):
genes play a big role.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Right.
I think a lot of diseases canattribute that to genetics.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know, Tom, as time goes on, it really seems
that way.
It seems like an awful lot isgenetic.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, it just passed down Historically.
I don't know.
You probably don't know becausethey didn't really document it
back in the day as well as theydo now.
In the last 100 years or so,you know how predominant
diabetes was among thepopulation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I don't know what the origin of the tracking of it is
, but Well, I couldn't give youpercentages, but I can tell you
that diabetes has been diagnosedfor thousands of years.
The Egyptians knew about it, infact what they would do, not
(13:40):
the Egyptians, but later on, asdoctors, learn more about
diabetes.
They had people that werecalled water tasters and they
would have them taste the urineof patients, and if the urine
tasted sugary, they knew theyhad diabetes and they would tell
them you're going to die.
You know there's no urine andyou're going to die.
So they wouldn't spend theirtime trying to treat people who
(14:03):
were hopeless Right.
And it stayed that way until1925, when, you know, after
three decades, after theydiscovered that the pancreas
produced whatever the substancewas to control blood sugar.
30 years later they managed torefine it enough and identify it
so that it could be used fortreatment.
But up until 1925, if you haddiabetes, you were going to die.
(14:26):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
No matter what type two or type one, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Either way, it's like I mentioned earlier you put
that sugar in your bloodstreamand it's going to do the damage.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Right, right.
So diet does take a—geneticsdoes play a role, but diet also
plays a role.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Well, once you get the underlying condition, diet's
huge Understood, because thegame then is to keep your blood
sugar level as low as possible.
If you can keep it below thediabetic range, that's wonderful
.
I mean, it's hard to do, butit's wonderful if you can do it
and, believe it or not, thereare people who are knowledgeable
(15:07):
enough and strong-willed enoughto do that just with diet and
exercise.
Most people don't have thosecapacities, but it can be done.
But what we need to do, withdiet especially, is try to limit
the amount of sugar you'reactually eating, because the
easiest way to keep your bloodsugar from rising is not to
(15:29):
raise it in the first place.
I mean, to keep it in controlis to not let it rise in the
first place, and the way you dothat is to identify the foods
that are going to raise yourblood sugar.
Now, obviously, sugar is a bigthing to stay away from, but the
thing that's lost on manypeople is that carbohydrates,
(15:50):
which include starches, alsoraise the blood sugar.
In fact, sugar and starches arethe two forms of carbohydrate.
Sugar is sweet.
You know it when you're eatingit.
Starches are not, but if youeat a slice of bread that is a
starch.
It will raise your blood sugarjust as much as the sugar would.
(16:12):
In fact, one gram of starchequals one gram of sugar.
That one gram of starch getsdigested into one gram of sugar,
so you can't think you'regetting.
You know you can eat all thebread you want, because you
can't.
It's just like eating sugar.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Right, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Right, yeah, it's yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Well, this is.
You know, diet can really be acomplicated subject and I
developed a diabetes course thatI gave before COVID and I gave
it in colleges and universitiesand civic groups and all kinds
(16:52):
of places universities and civicgroups and all kinds of places
and what I realized is thatnutrition can be so complicated
that it blows people away andthey don't really understand
what they have to do.
But what I tell people to do isexactly what I do.
I take a look at what I'meating.
If you look at your diet, mostof us have breakfast that stay
pretty much the same.
Lunches are pretty much thesame.
Lunches are pretty much thesame.
(17:12):
Dinners will vary more, butover the course of a month
you're going to have the samethings repeat.
What you need to do is take alook at what you're really
eating and identify where thecarbohydrates are.
Once you do that, then you say,well, okay, you know, if I eat
more egg and less bread, youknow that's going to help me.
You can make those kinds oftrade-offs once you understand
(17:35):
what they are Right.
One woman in a class I gave toldme that she couldn't keep her
blood sugars below 200, which ispretty high.
Normal is 70 to 130.
But she explained that herhusband worked the second shift
and he liked to have dinner.
When he came home after workshe liked to have dinner with
him.
He liked pasta, so she waseating pasta every night.
(17:58):
Well, pasta's a seriouscarbohydrate.
So I told her you know, just forthe next week, eat something
different.
You know, don't eat the pasta.
You know we recommend, you know, some sort of meat.
You could eat eggs.
Anything that's protein won'traise your blood sugar.
Eat something that's not thathigh carbohydrate.
(18:18):
She came back in a week andsaid her blood sugars were down
to 110.
Wow, so that's the kind ofthing that you can identify.
A lot of times it's low-hangingfruit like that where you say
man, even soda.
You might say, well, maybe Ishould stop drinking two liters
of sugared soda every day.
I know people who do that, notdiabetics, but I know people who
(18:40):
do that.
So you know, those are thekinds of things you can do.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But when you have diabetes and maybe I'm wrong for
example, you can have low bloodsugar levels as well in
diabetes, like I've heard aboutpeople, you know they'll have a
Hershey bar if they're feelingfainter.
They know their blood pressureis too low.
They'll have a Hershey bar toget it back to some semblance of
(19:05):
normalcy.
Explain that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, sure.
What happens with that is thatwhen you take insulin, like I do
, or certain type 2 medications,you can have low blood sugars.
The problem is that when yourblood sugar gets too low, the
brain gets affected.
Unlike other tissues in thebody, the brain takes glucose
(19:29):
directly from the blood as it'sneeded.
The body, the brain, takesglucose directly from the blood
as it's needed.
So if your blood sugar is low,the brain isn't getting the
energy from the glucose that itneeds and things start to go
haywire.
You can start sweating, you canlose your coordination, your
eyesight can get funky to whereyou're seeing double or triple.
If it gets too low, you canpass out.
So it's a serious thing.
(19:51):
But you mentioned the Hersheybar.
It's easily treatable.
All you have to do is eatsomething sugary to boost that
blood glucose level back up andthen the brain comes right back
online.
So it's not hard to cure.
But you have to realize whenit's happening and eat that
sugar.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Right.
So it might be the medicationyou're on that causes the low
blood sugar, not so much thediabetes itself.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Well, it's a little more complicated than just the
medication.
It's a balancing act betweenmedication, diet and exercise.
Now you're going to take thesame medication, so that's not
going to change.
What is going to change is howmuch carbohydrate you've eaten
and how physically active you'vebeen.
Now, if you haven't eaten muchcarbohydrate at all and you've
(20:41):
been physically active, you know, number one, the glucose hasn't
been put into your bloodstreamin the first place, and number
two, your activity has droppedit down even farther.
So it's that that's causing it,not the medication per se.
The medication will set thestage to make that possible, but
it doesn't actually cause it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I understand.
Okay, Now do you know, like aballpark figure, what percentage
of the US population, forexample, has diabetes, whether
it be type 1, type 2, orpre-diabetic?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yes, it's between 10% and 15%.
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
For some reason, I thought it was higher than that.
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, you hear these figures kicked around, that you
know 30% of people are projectedto have diabetes, and that I
don't know how they do that, butit's been between 10 and 15%
for quite a long time.
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Well, obviously, you being a victim of it, do you
call yourself a victim of it?
Is that the right?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
term.
Okay, no, I don't.
I don't like that terminologyat all.
Okay, I'm a person who has achallenge in life that I can
deal with, right, and it couldbe a lot worse.
So, you know, victim to mesounds like you got hit by a car
, you know?
(22:04):
I mean, I have a challenge andyou know what, tom, nobody's
perfect.
We're all dealing with onething or another, right, you
know.
You just got to realize thatthis is what it is and do what
you got to do.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Right.
Well, having diabetes, you madeyourself well-versed in it and
you did write a book that I'dlike to.
Just, if you don't mind, I'mjust going to share your Amazon
page for that book real quick,called the Diabetes Book what
you Should Know, what EveryoneShould Know, who has Diabetes.
Just based on the reviews andthe ratings, it's been
(22:45):
well-received by the population.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhat made you write the book.
The population.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So tell us a little bit about what made you write
the book.
What prompted me to do this atall is that I was in Chicago
during the week when Ron Chiantawas inducted into the Baseball
Hall of Fame.
He had type 1 diabetes, so hewas taking insulin, and we just
talked about low blood sugar.
Ron is in a game.
Last of the ninth Cubs are downby two.
(23:16):
There's two outs and two men onbase.
Santos in the on-deck circle.
Then he starts feeling lowblood sugar coming on.
So he just prays that the guyat the plate will make an out
and retire the side so he canget back to the dugout and eat
his Snickers bar.
Well, the guy walked, so Santossaid.
He walked up to the plate.
(23:36):
He looked up and he saw threepitchers, three scoreboards,
30-some-odd people standing outin the field, and when the
pitcher threw the ball it lookedlike it had a slinky attached
to it.
So he took a cut at itconnected and put it out of the
park for a walk-off Grand Slamhome run.
So he made it around the basesand got back to the dugout in
(23:57):
time to eat his candy bar.
And so nobody was the wiseruntil 10 years later, when they
had Ron Santo Day at WrigleyField and he told the public
that he had been diabetic forall those years.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Wow, His whole career .
He was year type one.
His whole career, Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Wow, yep, he got it before he went to training camp
the first year he played.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So you know people think that the walk-off grand
slam home run, that's a greatstory.
I mean, if I did something likethat, I'd be talking about that
to everybody I knew forever.
But that's not really the bigstory.
For anybody who's experiencedlow blood sugar, you know the
big story was what was going onin Santo's mind as he's making
(24:41):
it around the bases.
You know he could have passedout in front of 20,000 screaming
fans and his secret would havebeen out of the bag, Right.
So that's what the realpressure was.
So I came home and startedtelling that story and what I
discovered was two things.
One is that most people don'tunderstand diabetes well at all
(25:03):
and they believe a lot of untruethings about it.
So it's a mess what the publicthinks about diabetes and
diabetics, Right.
The other was that I could talkabout type 1, but I was asked
about type 2 as well, and what Idiscovered is that most of what
I thought about type 2 waswrong.
And that's when I realized thatour society has got a real
(25:26):
problem with misperceptionsabout diabetes.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And that's when I decided you know, this is a big
problem.
I retired a few years after Iwas in Chicago and I decided to
make this my retirement project.
So that's why I'm doing it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
I recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn
more or maybe has diabetesthemselves.
The book to anyone who wants tolearn more or maybe has
diabetes themselves, just go onAmazon and I'll have a link in
the show notes for this book,and you've already dispelled a
lot of the misconceptions I'vehad in the short time we've been
talking, or at least explained.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Well, tom, you are much better educated about
diabetes right now than probably90% of the people out there,
right?
Even a lot of diabetics don'tknow the things I just explained
to you, right?
In fact, one of the mostgratifying things that would
happen to me when I was doingthe courses in person is that
(26:29):
diabetics would come up to meafterwards and tell me that the
best thing I told them was thatthey didn't cause it.
You can see the guilt and shamedrip off their faces because
for all this time, they've beenwalking around thinking that,
well, I'm a little overweight,I'm not eating right, and I
brought it on myself, and youknow that it's just too bad.
(26:50):
I was so irresponsible, sopeople beat themselves up over
things that they didn't causeright, I was just that's.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
The main thing that I thought when you were talking
about the ron santos story washow he actually wanted to hide
it during his career.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So back then there was shame attached right to uh,
you know, Tom, there's still ashame attached to it.
Now, if you had themisconceptions that diabetics
got it because they wereirresponsible, you no longer
think that you know different.
But a lot of people stillbelieve that diabetics got it
(27:30):
because they ate too much sugaror they were lazy or they were
overweight and all that stuffthat points the finger at a
person who's got a disease thatthey got because of the genetics
Right.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Sure, I would think, knowing what can happen again to
the Ron Santos story, it's gotto cause anxiety in a lot of
people that have diabetes.
What may happen if their bloodsugar goes down or goes too high
or too low.
It's got to cause anxiety tothem.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Well, it does.
But this is where educationcomes in.
Once you know what to look forand you get used to dealing with
this disease, you can manage it.
Right Now, I've had this forwhat's the math?
43 years, 1981, 19, 2024.
(28:23):
Yep, and I'm doing fine.
You know I've had some lowblood sugars, but not a whole
lot, because I'm aware enough ofit to take care of it before it
gets serious.
But that's what you have to do.
You have to learn about it andtake action when it's needed.
Same thing with what you'reeating.
And, by the way, with eating,the thing that causes the damage
(28:45):
is not temporary spikes inblood sugar, it's the average
blood sugar.
Like I mentioned about the A1C,the reason they use that is
that it measures the averageover three months.
Because it's the average, youcan have some food you really
like eating that are highcarbohydrate once in a while.
You want to have an ice creamsundae?
(29:05):
You want to eat a plate ofspaghetti once in a while?
You can do it.
You can treat yourself, youknow, just get it back down
Right.
The point is that you can eatwhat you want, but you can't
make a regular diet out of thestuff that's going to keep your
blood sugar high.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Right, you can live whole and happy and just keep it
under control.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And you know something when you think about
it.
What I just said, doesn't thatmake sense for everybody?
Sure, I mean really, I'm notasking you to do something.
That's extraordinarily hardRight.
Most people should do it.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I did ask my doctor about the A1C.
They always check your blood,you know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And I just had a physical a couple weeks ago and
thankfully it's in a good range.
But I said, what if I like,don't eat for three days before
the physical he goes.
You would have to stop eatingeverything for six months
because the A1C picks that up,you know.
(30:06):
So my next doctor's appointmentis the day after New Year's.
I can't imagine what the hellthat's going to be.
Well, but anyway.
But I know you did this.
The predominant reason you madethis book, which a lot of
people have enjoyed, is to justraise awareness of how diabetes
(30:28):
is caused and what diabetics cando.
How diabetes is caused and whatdiabetics can do.
As you said, even diabetics areunaware of everything they can
do to control the disease.
Yeah, what I wanted to say wasyou also have your own website,
which I don't know if.
Can you see that page there?
Yeah, I can Okay?
(30:50):
ChallengeDiabetesus, which I'massuming.
This is the ron santos story,the first video here, exactly,
yeah uh, so right it is.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
It is it an amazing story?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
yeah, it's a great story.
I'm a baseball fan.
Well, I'm a math fan.
Uh, are you a red sox fan?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
or a cubs fan actually I'm a new york giants
fan.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Ah, just like my pop was a New York Giants fan.
That's why everybody in myfamily has met fans, because
they moved to San Francisco, youknow?
Yeah, right, right, yeah.
So tell us a little about thiswebsite, chet.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yeah, there are two big things on it.
One is that on Facebook, I posta one-minute video every week
that hits a diabetes issue.
So after I post them onFacebook, I post them on the
website too, so that there's abunch of them there and there's
(31:48):
going to be more as time goes on.
But, even more importantly, Icreated a couple of videos.
One is about the misinformationabout diabetes and the other is
called the nuts and bolts ofdealing with diabetes.
They're less than a half anhour long.
Oh, there you go and you can seethe prices there.
(32:10):
They're cheap.
You can rent them for $1.99 fortwo weeks and really get
yourself some basic educationabout diabetes.
What I'm hoping is that notjust diabetics, but people who
love diabetics and care aboutthem whether it's your spouse or
somebody you live with or arelative diabetics and care
(32:32):
about them.
You know whether it's yourspouse or somebody you live with
or a relative.
It's a good way just to geteverybody knowledgeable enough
about it to understand whatyou're dealing with and to help
out in a realistic way.
Right, if you scroll down alittle farther, you can get both
of them for, you know, $2.99.
You can watch both of them fortwo weeks, that's a great deal.
Yeah, you know, I wish I couldgive them away, but I do have
(32:54):
expenses, oh sure it costs moneyto make these things and to put
them online.
Yeah, but the goal here is toeducate everybody and the other
thing, in addition to diabeticsand those who care about them as
a general public, I would loveto have people watch these in
groups, because what that willdo is replicate the courses that
(33:16):
I used to give pre-COVID.
You watch the video for a halfhour and then people can talk
about it, and what I alwaysfound is that some of the
stories that people come up withof things they've had to deal
with are pretty powerful, andthat's what will happen if you
watch these in a groupsomebody's going to have some
stories to tell, so it turnsinto a very interesting and
(33:39):
informative program right, isthis uh what?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
what did you say?
Speaker 2 (33:44):
you come out with uh a new video every week yeah, if
you go to the, see the clips onthe far right there.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Ah, the one.
Okay, the little shorts okay.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, they're just little clips and you can see the
titles there.
You know, like I talked aboutthe sugar and water, there's a
little one on that.
Yeah, how normal.
But you know some of the stuffthat you and I already talked
about.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Right?
Well, that's great.
It's great that you're doingthis for folks and this part of
it is free, right?
Yes, but I would recommend isthere a way to subscribe to this
page where they can getnotified?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
No, but they're always going to be up there.
If you just go to the website,they'll be there.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Okay, that's a great idea and great on you for doing
that.
This is the book, again that wediscussed, the diabetes book.
It's in paperback now, right,yeah, yeah.
So a lot of people have readabout it, so it's just a
phenomenal idea.
And again, even people whodon't have diabetes I think, if
(34:55):
that's a correct estimate, 15%of the population.
I can't imagine there's nobodythat doesn't know somebody that
has diabetes.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
You know everybody either has it, knows somebody
who does, or feels guilty.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Right.
So even if it's somebody like afriend of yours or someone in
your family and, as you said, ifit's one of your loved ones,
you want to know more about ityourself so you can help them,
or help them commiserate ifyou'd like, or whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well, you know it gives you some good advice.
Like you know, diabetes is ahard thing and you do have
flexibility.
As I said, you can have yourbowl of pasta once in a while.
That's not a problem.
But in the diabetes world thereare people called the diabetes
police.
These are people who, if you'reat a Christmas party and they
(35:52):
spot you eating a cookie,they're likely to come over and
say you know, are you sure youshould be eating that?
Well, yeah, you know, I gotthis, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Get off my back.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
You know one thing is you know understand enough
about the disease to know thatdiabetics are not going to die
because they eat sugar, Right?
No, it's not a poison.
It's not like you're takingcyanide, Right.
You know, it's a question ofbalance and as long as you keep
that average down, you're goingto be okay.
I had a woman in one of myclasses who told me that her
(36:25):
aunt had diabetes and this womanand her sister would go into
the aunt's house and they wouldtrack down every piece of candy
she had hidden around the house.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
They would go into her dresser drawer, Excuse me,
Don't tell me they'd emptied outthe candy from the dresser
drawer.
That always happens, yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
They took every piece of candy they could find, they
confiscated it, yeah, and gaveher a hard time for having it.
And I told her you know, youreally got to understand a
little more about diabetes andthe fact that if your aunt wants
to have a piece of candy oncein a while, it's not going to
kill her.
Give her a break, you know.
Right, but that kind ofbehavior really is unacceptable,
(37:11):
right.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Right, but that kind of behavior really is
unacceptable, right?
So this is your mission to justmake the general population
more aware of diabetes, andyou've already made me more
aware just in the short timewe've been talking, and I do
appreciate that.
But I would like to, if youdon't mind, put this website up
(37:32):
on the show noteschallengediabetesus, and I would
definitely recommend peoplevisit that and if they have a
question after watching thevideos, or maybe the shorts, or
they rent the videos can theycontact you via that website.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Absolutely.
Yeah, there's a contact us formthere.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, just give me your information and I'll be in
touch.
Yeah, I'm sure people have donethat already and I'm sure
you're forthcoming with whatever.
You answer it the best way youcan, it's what I do.
Yeah, well, you do it well, andI not only appreciate you doing
that for people, but I alsoappreciate you coming on the
Gritty Hour tonight, and if youhave something else coming down
(38:18):
the road, just reach out to me.
We'll have you back and we'lldiscuss this topic further.
Appreciate it.
Okay, I do appreciate it too,chet.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
All right, have a good nightyou too.
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