The Diabetic Health Coach Vanessa Haydock: 'I'm giving people the help I really needed when I was younger'

At first glance, it may seem that Vanessa Haydock has type 1 diabetes all figured out. The behavioural analyst and health and fitness coach speaks of ‘dominating diabetes’, but it was her struggles to accept her condition and care for herself that have enabled her to help hundreds of others change their health for the better as The Diabetic Health Coach.

Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a toddler, Lancashire born and bred Vanessa keeps it real - focusing on connection, community and education to give her clients ‘what she really needed when she was younger’.

Having gone through every emotion it’s possible to feel in relation to type 1 diabetes, Vanessa shares how she went from denial to not only acceptance but empowerment and fulfilment. She also reveals the tools you can use to start building your own positive habits and self-confidence - just as long as there are no digestive biscuits! 

CONNECT WITH VANESSA
Visit Vanessa’s website. 
Check out Vanessa’s Instagram.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY 
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SPONSOR MESSAGE
This episode of Type 1 on 1 is sponsored by Insulet, the makers of Omnipod tube-free insulin pump therapy.

Using Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery has improved my diabetes management significantly with less diabetes decisions, and of course no multiple daily injections.

How? Well, Omnipod 5 automatically adjusts insulin every five minutes to help keep me in range, allowing life outside of type 1 diabetes to get bigger.

If you want to know more, head to Omnipod.com.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Type one on one is kindly sponsored
by Insulette. More on that later. What I will say
now is that we have a shiny new Instagram page
dedicated specifically to the Type one on one podcast. It's
very exciting, So come and say hi and join our
lovely community at Studio type one on one. The link
is in the episode description. Hi everyone, and welcome to

(00:25):
Type one on one, a podcast that delves into the obscure,
complex and challenging world of life with Type one diabetes.
I'm Jen Greeves, and each week, with the help of
some brilliant guests, I'll be showing that there is no
normal when it comes to handlink this whopper of a
chronic condition, because we're all pretty much figuring out the

(00:46):
messiness of day to day life with diabetes as we go,
and most of all, even though it doesn't always feel
like it, we are absolutely not alone. Today's guest is
behavioral analyst and health and fitness code Vanessa Haydock, also
known as the Diabetic Health Coach. Born and bred in Lancashire,
Vanessa has been living with type one diabetes since she

(01:07):
was three years old, and after a period of what
she calls denial in her teens. A rettenopathy diagnosis at
the age of eighteen set Vanessa on a path of change.
After studying psychology, human behavior and fitness. What was one
of her greatest setbacks has led to helping hundreds of
other people live better with diabetes. Hello Vanessa, welcome to

(01:29):
Tite one on one.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Hi jan thanks for having me on.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
You have this absolute wealth of knowledge and understanding and
just an incredible story as well, so I am super
grateful to you for joining me today.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
How is lovely Lancashire.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's okay and we had some really good weather last
week which seems to have taken a term for the
worst now, but it's usually the case up in the
north of England.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, yeah, nothing that you're not used to.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I am Cenery, Yorkshire, so I'm not not there like
ha ha ha, although I am sat in Spain so
I shouldn't. It's actually quite gray, so I'm crawling back here.
I am like I am with you, but yeah, I
can't complain, that's for sure. So rather than how are you,

(02:22):
which is the usual question, I always like to ask
people how the diabetes is doing today, just because it's
actually quite rare that we get to say something like, oh,
you know, I miscalculated my bolus this morning and someone
actually understands what that means. So how are you and
how is your diabetes doing today?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, I mean so far soul god seven point at that. Yeah,
I'm all good at the minute. However, I had my
dinner about an hour ago and quite high in craultine.
I'm fat, and we know what it's like. Let it
down the line. That's when it's to impact me slightly.

(03:01):
So you can. You can already see that it's starting
to creep up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
It's rising a little bit there.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, but it'll be fine, it'll be fine. I prefer
to be a little bit not higher. When I'm on
a podcast reading like that book, I don't want it
to go a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, I hear you, I hear you. That's like, am
I going to fall over? I mean I've never I've
never fallen over. But that bit where you can't string
a thought together and you can't really tell anyone your
own name, let alone like speak on a podcast, Yeah,
that's a thing.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
That's a thing.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
But even you saying that you know I've eaten this lunch,
I've had facts, I've had proteins, so I know what's
going to happen. I'll get a bit of a delay,
like even in that one response, you sort of encapsulating
there how much there is to deal with and how
much is going through our head? Like all day every day.
You know, I've got a podcast in a minute. I
don't want to be too low. And it's constant, constant, constant,

(03:54):
aren't we?

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah? I mean what do they say, like it's all
with titwe diabetes mate an average of an extra one
hundred and eighty decisions every single day, and it's so true,
Like I mean, I've never counted them myself, but if anything,
I probably said, there's it probably even more than that
because it is literally like all the time, I'm thinking,

(04:17):
we've goss apples? When am I going to go for
a what? How much angeline have I got on board?
How much angeline am I going to need for what
I'm about to eat? Do I feel low or do
I feel high? And it's just constantly. I always say
we have a second brain, a diabetes brain, or got
animal written, and the diabetes brain is always on switched on,

(04:37):
ticking along, because again there is it is one of
those where it is a condition that is it is
twenty four to seven. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, And is this something you see in your clients
in terms of because I don't know if often I'm
aware of all the decisions I'm making, because it's just
become part of like this other brain that runs all
the time when you I mean, I'm jumping ahead, But
I guess when people are coming to you and they
want to work with you, it's because they want to

(05:07):
make some changes, and often that is around diabetes management.
So do you find that people aren't even kind of
aware of how much they're dealing with and how much
they're taking on in terms of giving themselves some grace
and some compassion for what it is that we are
dealing with.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Well, that's the thing, isn't it, Jen. I Mean, when
it comes to diabetes, it's it's so different compared to
you know, if for example, I've also got undirected thyroid,
and what that means is I have to take medication
for the rest of my life, which is a tablet
in the morning and then that's it. Don't have to
think about it. But with diabetes. It's not the case

(05:44):
of Okay, just have this and then you'll be okay,
it's okay, this is what you need to do. And
then also this is this is this, and it may
not actually work, so then you may need to do this,
and it's it's a lot. It is literally it's just switches.
And you know, in terms of after receiving a diabetes diagnosis,

(06:04):
there's so much that we have to take on board
and we need to not necessarily i'd here to, but
things that we have to put in place just to
try and manage it the best we can and linkeding
with again, behavior change. When I was at Union, I
was learning about human behavior and behavioral psychology and they

(06:26):
were talking about you know, habits and building positive behaviors
and healthy behaviors, and I'm sat there thinking, Wow, why
is there nothing like this for people with diabetes, because
we're literally having to participate in so many different habits
and behaviors every single day that are not even that

(06:46):
easy as well. And what I always say too is
when I'm trying to describe diabetes to people, it's a
little bit like you can do everything by the book,
you can do everything right, do everything that we're told
to do and still feel like we get it wrong.
And it's a little bit like I always says, answering
one plus one, writing down two and then getting it

(07:08):
marked and then getting it wrong. That's what it feels
like sometimes. And again that can have such a big
impact on our own motivation. And again, is it any
wonder that sometimes it can be a lot to take on,
but you know it is doable. It is you know,
we can push through it, and if anything, it just

(07:31):
builds a resilience and makes us so much stronger in general.
I always say, like, when it comes to diabetes, it's
probably made me the most resilient version of me possible
because we're having to just obviously, you know, not necessarily
fight it every day, but we're having to do the
job of an organ every single day.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, you know, it's a lot. You've got to be
an active participant, haven't you. Otherwise before long, something will
come up, like as in your case and similar in
my case, it was a diagnosis of retinopathy that set
me on kind of a fork in the road, if
you like. So, before we get into your story, i'd

(08:11):
love to get a little bit of context from you.
About what it actually is that you do and how
you help people, Because I know there's different facets. We've
already touched on the actual glucose levels and diabetes management,
there's a fitness aspect. There's also a mindset aspect, which
personally speaking, has been one of the most important tools

(08:34):
outside of the testing and the dosing and the basic
habits that we do have to do. That has been
the key to shift kind of my perspective and my
relationship with typeodiabetes. So for the benefit of people listening,
can you tell me a little bit about how this
all into plays in terms of the work you do
and how you help people.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
John, I mean, in a nutshell, what I always try
and focus on with what I do and how I
help people is what did I really really need when
I was younger and what would have benefited me in
such a positive way that I never got because you know,
I was kind of on my own with a you know,
I was very much in denial and I just switched

(09:15):
off completely with it, and I just think, well, what
did I need when I was when I was younger?
And obviously I go under the name of the diabetic health Coach,
and to me health isn't just our diabetes management. Health
is everything. Health is, you know, something that's so important
to billions of us, Like, without our health, what have

(09:36):
we got? And when it comes down to help, you know,
that could be fitness, that could be our relationship with
our diabetes, it could be our mindset, it could be
our habits that we participate in every single day. And
having that coach there who also has diabetes. I think
it's such a big thing. And I mean we've all

(09:58):
been there, haven't we where we've had someone working with
us or they've not got diabetes, and you know, it's
not the same because it unless you live with diabetes,
you will never fully understand what it is like to
live with So within my coaching, I focus on helping
my clients who have diabetes like myself, to meet their
health and fitness goals. I'm a qualified personal trainer on

(10:20):
my coach, so I might get clients come to me
and say, you know what, I'm really struggling to drop
body fat because you know, trying to manage my diabetes
at the same time it is so much harder. And
so that's where I'll help my clients with that side
of things. Then I'll get clients who want to work
on the mindset side of things, whether you know, they're
really struggling to accept the diabetes or they're really struggling

(10:41):
to you know, come out of bouts of denial, which
you know, I'm sure we've all been through from time
to time. And that's where I'll help clients with, you know,
building that positive relationship with the diabetes because I generally,
I generally believe that we can build that positive relationship
with our diabetes. And then also there's an element of

(11:03):
behavior changing there. I might have clients come to me
who are in just really poor habits with the diabetes
management or their health, and you know, they want to
build on their healthy behaviors and healthy habits. And again
there's a lot of the time we don't really get
much support with that side of things generally anyway, because
we have to kind of we are kind of left

(11:24):
to our own devices with you know, all of the
different things that we have to do every single day.
And just with my own experience with my diabetes, so
when I was a teenager and I was in a
lot of unhealthy habits and unhealthy behaviors, just by making
positive changes to those I saw such a dramatic improvement
in my diabetes management. You know, I got into excide,

(11:48):
I got into healthier ways of living, making healthier food choices.
I started moving more. I started to adhere to my
medical regime. I started to check my glue coosse levels more.
I started to change my answer, you know. I started
to do all the things that we just you know,
sometimes can fall to the back burner a little bit,

(12:08):
and by doing that, it helped me to manage for
diabetes so much better. So again, there's a lot of
different things that I do. So the best way to
summarize it is either health and fitness goals, mindset goals,
or diabetes related behavior change goals islands again kind of
having that person there who gets it. And even though

(12:31):
obviously I help my clients with all of that, what
my client's also like is just having that person at
the end of the line who's like, do you know what, Vanessa,
I'm having such a rubbish day to day with my
glue coss ambles. And I'm very open and honest, like
I am not perfect. No one's got perfect diabetes controlled.
I mean, if so, anyone who's got one hundred percent
time in range twenty four to seven, then perhaps off

(12:52):
to you, because that I can imagine is very, very
difficult to maintain. Obviously, I know there's so so much
amazing technology now which does make that a lot easier.
But I think in reality, you know, we're only human.
We're doing the job of an organ and we're not
even you know, we're kind of just given leaflets or
information thrown its that we have to digest ourselves. It

(13:15):
doesn't naturally come to us. And I think that's the
thing with diabetes. It is a learning process. We have
to learn about our condition and what we need to do.
We have to learn about our body. And this is
the thing I always say, you know, there's nine million people.
This is not I don't know if this is fact,
but let's say there's nine million people in the world
with tyit on diabetes. There's also nine million ways to

(13:36):
manage it. Because we're all so individual and it's up
to us to learn about our bodies and learn about
our own diabetes. And I always say, never confer to
anyone else. There's everyone's journey is so different. So yeah,
I've kind of gone off on a big trail there,
but that's basically what I do now.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
I think you've covered so much ground.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
There's so much in there because when I think at
the point of diagnosis, for a lot of people, this
is just so unknown. And understandably, the healthcare system are
trying to help us to stay alive and take our
insulin doses and you know, manage our glucose levels as
best we can, but there is such a leak between
like staying alive with type one, being able to function

(14:19):
quote unquote function, and you know, feeling well and in
your words, dominating diabetes.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
They are worlds apart.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
So and what you touched on there about that sense
of kind of empowerment that actually came from you looking
at your diabetes, looking at your health, looking at your body,
Whereas I think for a lot of people, that's such
an overwhelming place to look at if you are stuck,
if you are feeling frustrated to begin from. So there's

(14:47):
just so much in that. So let's paint a bit
of a picture if we take it back. As I said,
you were diagnosed at the age of three, so I
assume that you don't remember a whole lot about that.
Do you remember your I don't know if that's a question,
do you remember your earliest diabetes memory? What is your

(15:07):
earliest diabetes memory is probably a more accurate.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Question, Well do you remember fallowing up? We've got a
bit of a weird memory. I can remember my second
birthday like it was yesterday. I don't know how, but
I just remember being in a car. It's weird anyway.
I do remember being excessive thirst, so I remember drinking

(15:32):
a pint of water, then another punt of water, and
a pint of orange juice, and then a pint of coat,
and it was just one after the other. And I
do remember the first and it was horrendous. And I
also remember being in the doctor's surgery and then being
taken to hospital. But that's kind of like all I

(15:53):
can remember. Really Again, like going back to when I
was diagnosed, I my mom and dad were brilliant. I mean,
you're talking back to the nineties now. There was no cgms.
There was no well, there weren't even any ends, you know,
like depends that we have now. It was all syringes,

(16:16):
you know, injecting into an orange. I always remember my
first intial injection. The nurses had to hold me down
because I was just I was like, I'm not having
it as you can imagine being a little girl. So yeah,
it was. It was hard. And the thing it's there
was no well there was internet, but it wasn't as
easily accessible back then. My mum and dad had to

(16:38):
just liaise with my diabetes nurse read, you know, just
gain as much knowledge as possible because in a in
a nutshell, they were becoming my pancreas, which is crazy
to say, but that's the that is the reality of
you know, parents with young kids with tint of diabetes. Luckily,
now that obviously we've got access to so much amazing

(17:01):
technology and that makes it a lot easier. But back
then it was, you know, everything was it had to
be done in a specific way. My mum, bless her,
she she did so much for me in terms of,
you know, with my food. She'd weigh absolutely everything out
to the peak. You know, like with every meal she'd

(17:22):
wait all out, they'd try and you know, she'd try
and figure out the carbohydrates. But again, there was no apps.
It was all through books. It was all through Okay,
if you had this much potato and this much bread,
this is how much it is, and it's crazy because
you think now with the actual solid quantitative numbers that
we've got available to us, but back then, there was nothing.

(17:44):
It was. It was literally a guesstimate. And I always
said sometimes without diabetes, and I think a lot of
people can relate when we guess it is like trying
to throw darts into a darkboard blindfolded. And so you know,
there was a lot of books and downs. I was
on mixed inchling back in the day, so I had
it twice a day, and that meant I had to

(18:06):
eat regimented times. So in a way, it's funny because
I actually think that the way that things had to
be back then has actually made me quite insistent and
routine now in a good way. So we had to
be back then. He had to eat at ten o'clock
a digestive biscuit. He had to have your lunch at
a set time. He had to have your insolent at

(18:28):
a set time. So in a way, I do think
that there is a positive side to that, not only
with diabetes, but with health and fitness behaviors. And you know,
I'm going to get a walk in today because that's
part of, you know, a healthy habit of mine. And
so sometimes it's always trying to get the negative and
see the positive to it.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, I sort of think a lot of the time,
I personally have too, Otherwise I'll just kind of get
swept under by.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
All of it.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, And you know, I I don't want to be
toxically positive. I'm always very real about how much this
tests me. But I can appreciate, certainly similar to you
knowing where we've come from in terms of just being
in the dark with my glucose levels absolutely all the time,
not having any clue, you know, And there are pros

(19:15):
and cons to that. I guess not knowing maybe makes
you a bit less hyper fixated on it, but at
what cost to my health? And you and I both
had that in a way, So that fixtragime that you
speak of and having to eat the digestive biscuit at
ten and I think mine was Cereal bars at ten
and three or three thirty whatever, and never look at

(19:38):
Cereal bars and the same do you eat digestive biscuits.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
I did an Instagram pulse on it, and it was
like the relationship that you have with the food that
you were forced to eat as a child. It's a
it's crazy looking back, But yeah, no, it's what it is.
It's crazy looking back I think in terms of just
how everything's changed now. I mean, yeah, technology is amazing.

(20:06):
I mean my my free style Libra. When I first
started to use that, that was an absolute game change.
Because I always say, it's kind of we've gone from
only seeing snippets of our day to having our glasses.
It's kind of people who need glasses really badly, so
then have the glasses put on and then being able
to see clearly. It's like the way I describe it. So, yeah,

(20:28):
it does make such a big difference.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, one hundred.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
So let's talk about the teenage years. I sort of
mentioned in the introduction that there was a period of
denial and there was a certain period of time. I've
seen from your incredibly powerful content online you've weren't checking
your glucose levels and in your words, you gave up
caring and switched off from diabetes. So can you talk

(20:56):
to me a little bit about that time, like whether
that crept up on you slowly or you you know,
it was a more conscious decision. I'm assuming it was
just that you wanted to be like everyone else and
not deal with it, which I know is such a
common story. So do you mind speaking to me a
little bit about that time?

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Yeah, of course. I mean, like I mentioned, when I
was in primary school, my mum and dad were incredible.
They helped me so much. They were in my pancreas,
so I didn't really need to think much about it because,
you know, I knew I needed intually, and I knew
that there were certain things back then that I had
to avoid. Not that i'dn't avoid, you know, I have
to avoid them, but it just made managing it back

(21:36):
in the nineties and early noughties a little bit easier.
And then I hit high school. And it's funny because
when I look back, it's crazy to say this, but
I knew I had diabetes, but I didn't really know
what it was. So it was kind of like I
knew I had it. I knew I had to have inchalin.
Did I really understand the science behind it? Absolutely not.

(21:57):
And this is where that denial p and the thinking
that I was invincible came in because I didn't understand
the site behind it. I didn't understand what you know, well,
if I do have for a long time, group of
bubbles for a long period of time. It is going
to cause some damage. Let it down the line. And

(22:18):
obviously nobody well, when I was at high school, I
didn't know anybody with type one diabetes. I grew up
not really knowing anyone. And because of that, I was
able to switch off from it because I didn't need
to think about it was only me that had it
and didn't fully understand it anyway, so it was easy
for me to want to switch off from I found

(22:39):
it very at one point, I found it very aversive.
Obviously with going to my diabetes appointment. I found that
obviously because they were never really fully happy with my
HBO one C. I did feel, you know that in
some of my appointments, like it was going into the
head teacher's office, I would make up my results. I

(23:02):
think we've all been there. I haven't wed before going
in and you know, just thinking, oh my gosh, I've
not done this, I've not done that. But the thing is,
when you're a teenager, you don't have the you don't
have that kind of instant punishment. And this is the
thing from a behavioral standpoint with TYPEWE diabetes. If we
you know, for example, if we are on wyellows to
get a parking ticket. We won't do that again because

(23:25):
we've got a parking ticket. There's no instant punishment with
diabetes when it comes to our glucose control. We feel
high by reading it is what it is, I feel
a bit thirsty, and I kind of got on with it,
and I got used to those like feelings of being
high where it didn't really feel bad because I was
so used to it, Like my body just got used

(23:46):
to being high. There was not instant punisher, whereas the
punisher we came. It's hard to claffter the punisher because
it's got to happen straight after a behavior, but it
happens later on, and sometimes it's it's when there's like
a delay in that punishment, were less likely to make changes.

(24:06):
So for me, it was like, you know, I was
getting away with, oh you know, I've mismaine invited in all. Well,
it is what it days. It's fine. I wasn't really
checking my glucos leveles. I forgot to check my gluicles.
It's fine, it's fine. I'll just get on with what
I'm doing. And then those habits just became prolonged habits.
I was just doing it more often. There was no
initial punisher apart from feeling a bit thirsty. It's like,

(24:29):
I can just get on with this. And I just
fell into bad habits. And I think you're in that
kind of bubble anyway as a teenager where you're not
really that bothered about and you know, wellness. I know
that's very different now just with obviously it's all about
health and fitness now with your younger scenes, which I

(24:51):
think brilliant. I was thinking, well, I wish it was
like that when when I was a teenager, because yeah,
it definitely wasn't like that. So for me, I just yeah,
I just fell into a complete step denial where I
was thinking, what is it? What it is? It's only diabetes.
I can manage, say, you know, I can still eat
and drink what I want. I'm fine, Like I feel fine.

(25:14):
And I got to the point where I didn't want
to go to my appointments. My doctor, mendochronologist, said Vanessa,
she said, you know this will catch up with you.
She said, it may not be impacting you now, it's
when you're older, your body got memory and it'll catch

(25:34):
up with you. And I was like, no, no, no,
it's fine. It is what it is. But honestly, like
even now, I know I know my body so well,
and I know that even now little things are starting
to appear, and I know that it's probably got a
lot to do with when I was younger. Yeah, so

(25:55):
and again, it is what it is. I've just kind
of accepted that now. And I think this is a
big part of diabetes that were never fully helped that
much with this art of acceptance for anything. In terms
of moving forward with anything, we've got to accept it first,
and I think that's something that a lot of us
struggle with when it comes to diabetes. And that's something
that I didn't accept when I was younger. The only

(26:17):
time I did accept it was when I got told
that i'd potentially lose my sight before the age of thirty.
And I'll always remember, I mean, I think we all
remember receiving our first written off the letter. It's so
dramatic because it's like capital letters and it's like, oh
my god. And then I got a second one, which

(26:37):
also said maculopti and that's when I got referred toptomology.
And then that for me was just like right, I've
got there's two things I can do. I can either
switch off from it completely and just continue as I am,
or I can do something about it. And with obviously
that option where I was like, I'm not going to
let diabetes stop me, and I'm going to do everything

(27:00):
in my power to not let this beat me, because
again it is it is one of those where when
it comes to the typewane diabetes and as you know,
as harsh as it sounds, it is literally like imagine
you've got a mole on your back. You know that
it's it's not looking good. You know it's not and
it needs to come off, it needs to get check it.

(27:21):
Just think it's fine, I'll leave it, it's fine, it's
not there, and just ignore it. We ignore it, We
keep ignoring it, and then to the point where it's
then too late. So that's what I always think about
it myself when I think about the typew diabetes. We
can ignore it, you know, and but you don't want
it to get to the point where it's then too late.
And that's where I was. That was the point with

(27:42):
my diabetes when I was like, right, no, I'm getting
this removed. I'm getting it removed, and I'm gonna do
something about it. And then that's when I started to
make not even like drastic changes, but I just made
little changes, like I started to check my Googles sovels more.
I started to I mean, this was before any any
CGMS came, before I got access to my freestyle Libra,

(28:02):
and I started to write down at my Glopo soells.
I checked them every hour. Every couple of hours, I
wrote them down. I highlighted them, so I had like
all my highlighted greens or red or yellows, and I
could visually see what was going on. And in a way,
it kind of starts to reinforce you when you start

(28:23):
seeing more greens. He starts seeing what's going on. And
again sometimes with diabetes we need to see some of
those better days to reinforce the behaviors of what we're
doing to carry on pushing forward. But yeah, so it
was a turning point. It really was. When I got
told about the menopoty in the Maculopie and touch wood.

(28:43):
You know it's not perfect, but to this day, everything stable.
But just because I've managed to keep obviously may I
want to see quite stable. But it doesn't mean I
don't have bad days doesn't mean that I'm on the
point all the time. We all go through ups and downs,
don't we.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, absolutely, And that's such a big thing to be
faced with. That's such a young age. But I think
whether people listening were diagnosed recently or a long time ago,
there's so much in that that I think resonates because of,
like you say, this immediate payoff that we see versus

(29:22):
this long term thinking as well, that is much easier
to push away because it isn't what we're dealing with
right now. And that desire to just live what you
consider to be a normal life is, you know, something
that every young person wants. Do you remember the conversations
you had with your family around that time when all

(29:44):
of that was going on.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
I remember I remember crying to my partner, So me
and me and my partner, we've been together like seventeen
years now, so he has been with me through the
the indern aile teenage years as well, and I always remember,
you know, just saying to him, oh my god, I'm

(30:08):
going to lose my sight and I was just traumatized.
I was like just I could not stop crying. And
again he was amazing. It just you know, calmed me
down and saying like, well, you've just got to put
up on an action in place with what you're going
to do moving forward, how you're going to beat it,
how you're going to you know, not let it win.
And again my mum and dad said the same thing,
you know again growing up as a teenager, they understood,

(30:33):
you know, it's it's like it's always going to be
the case when you're going through you know, puberty and
teenager's secondary school. It's a hard period of time for anyone,
let alone a teenager living with tywan diabetes. And I
think sometimes we just need that shop tactic, which I
always worked really well off as shot tactic. If something

(30:55):
happens and I have, like, I'm sure that's what changes
my behavior a lot of the time. Everyone's different when
people don't need that short tactic. But again I always say, like,
with our diabetes, the best thing that we can do,
whether that like daily or you know, just in general,
be as proactive as we possibly can. And it's that
proactiveness that helps to push us along that diabetes journey

(31:19):
and in a much more smoother way as well.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, just to relate to your story. Yeah,
I can't remember what was said to me in the appointment,
but I absolutely remember coming away thinking I was about
to go blind. So it does make me think about
the language use, because we do hear a lot now

(31:44):
that you know. Obviously language matters, and words like non
compliant aren't helpful, But much like you, that did shock
me into action, So I really wonder what was said.
And like you, you know, Touchwood, things are stable, but
it is the reason that we're both sat here today,

(32:05):
absolutely without things like social media. Where did you start
to invest in this and seek out that information? Because
much like you as well, I knew I obviously was
living with TYPEE diabetes, but I really didn't know what
that meant. I didn't know that insulin was a hormone.
I don't think any of that was ever explained to me,

(32:27):
and I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I
had no awareness of how far of course I'd gone.
I don't feel like I was consciously like ignoring it.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
All.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
This language is quite clunky, so apologies if anyone is
feeling a certain type of way, because this is sensitive
and heavy stuff. But you know, I just ordered a
bunch of textbooks and like went in a deep dive.
I was obviously triggered into action in the way that
you were that kind of shock tactic. But with the

(33:01):
wealth of information that's out there online now, like, where
did you begin and how did you begin to seek
out that information? Because I don't think I then went
back to my team to gather that, you know.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, I mean what I've started to do was just
obviously do some research online around just trying to learn
that little bit more about it. And then I actually
used to do a lot of volunteer work for Diabetes
UK back in twenty twelve twenty thirteen, so I used
to I started to host back then it was like

(33:35):
Google Hangout and I used to let host hangouts and
like zoom Zoom kind of like zoom calls with a
big group of people with diabetes who will come on
and then we just all talk about all things diabetes.
And actually learned more from talking to others about it.
And I learned that, you know, the needles that I
was using were far too big for what I needed,

(33:56):
and you know, little things like that. But I learned
that through speaking to others, I learned that actually there's
other interlins from overapping and levimere that I didn't realize existed.
And I think that's the thing, when it comes down
to it, you actually learn more, not more, but you
actually learn a lot from just speaking to other people
about it.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
And at what point did you Was it this kind
of self exploration need to learn about your own body
and your own health that led you to the unicurses
that you took that led you down into psychology and
behavioral analysis and things like that, or was that slightly separate.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Wean I've always been interested in psychology, so I kind
of I was had a big interest in health psychology
because again, obviously you know it's such a big thing.
I mean, I know I've said to you before, diabetes
in my in my mind is fifty percent physical fIF
percent mental, and but were never really supported with that

(34:57):
side to it. And when it when it comes down
to yeah, because I was a college so I did
typology at college as an air level, and then when
I went to UNI, I then did psychology. And then
as I was doing psychology, I then got into behavioral
psychology and I was working as a baby therapist in

(35:18):
kind of like a different area to diabetes at the
time during UNI, and then I went to do my
master's in behavior analysis and then certified as a behavior
analyst myself, which I got certified in when I was
twenty six. So it was it was kind of like,
whereas within behavior analysis it's a lot of you know,

(35:40):
child behavior, that kind of thing, human behavior, I wanted
to kind of go down the route of Okay, what
about the behavior about our behavior? Because you know the
amount of habits that we have to undertake every single
minute of the day is to try and manage our diabetes.
It's such a it's such a big thing. So yeah,
that's I've always had the interest, you know, in that

(36:01):
side things. And then obviously I got into health and
fitness myself. I got my old cult who didn't have diabetes,
but I got my old culture, and I was like,
you know, they were brilliant. I learned a lot about
just training and nutrition, and then I was like, you
know what, it would make such a big difference they
also had diabetes. And then that's kind of what led

(36:22):
me to be like, Okay, well that's what I'm going
to do. I want to help people to meet those
health fitness mindset related goals who you know from someone
who also has diabetes as well. So yeah, kind of
what led me to today?

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Amazing?

Speaker 1 (36:39):
And when did you when was the Diabetic health Coach born? Like,
how did you start to gather clients and what did
you start to see Because up until this point, as
you said, it had been you like an experiment of
one on your own body, and now you had the
professional training, and you'd also been speaking to people online
with diabetes through Diabetes UK and realizing that you were

(37:00):
learning a lot from other people's experiences. So what did
you start to find as you set up the business
and started working with people that did have diabetes as well?

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, I think, like when it comes down to it,
So I started officially coaching people about nine years ago.
Now it's quite a while back, and funnily enough, my
first ever client I still have to this day. She's
still with me as like a client. Yes, she's she's

(37:30):
still with me to this day. And when I when
I kind of, you know, started coaching a lot of
my clients, you know, they were on their own with it, really,
they didn't really know anyone with it. They were feeling
a little bit lost with the kind of management to
it and understanding health and fitness, and this is the thing, like,

(37:54):
you know, how healthy habits in general, how they run
alongside diitites managements such a big thing. I mean, you know,
if you know what it's like at the weekend, when
we let her down, we go off the rails with
food and drink or whatever it is. We're always going
to struggle a little bit more on a you know,

(38:14):
a heavy weekend compared to when we're in a good
routine with eating habits in the in the week and
you know, movement, exercise, et cetera. Sorry, my dog's drinking
his water if you can hear that in the background.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Now everyone's welcome here.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
So yeah, it's it's kind of one of those words.
I noticed that. Wow, you know, when we're in those
healthier ways of living, it really does have a positive impact.
Not saying that we shouldn't let her down, you know
at the weekend, I absolutely do do that, And I
think we need to just enjoy life. That's what life
is all about at the end of the day. But
it's enjoying life with our diabetes coming along with us.

(38:55):
And yeah, I found that a lot of my clients
just wanted to get into healthy habit. You know, they
wanted to feel supported, they wanted to feel like they
had someone there to speak to as well. I think
that was always a big thing and something that I
always put like a big, a big empsis on within
my coaching program is communication. And within within my coaching

(39:19):
program there's three pillars, so it's communication, community, and education.
So communication being you know, as the coach, that's what
I'm there form a message away and I like to
be in regular frontact of my client community. I've got
like a little WhatsApp group with all my clients in
which is brilliant because everyone just shares the good days

(39:41):
and the bad days and has a good old moan
about diabetes, which I think we need to have, Like
that's the thing. It's not it's not playing sailing all
the time, and especially you know for us, for us
ladies as well. I mean hormones. No one ever told
me about hormones and how that's going to impact my
glucos ambles. The only way I found that out was

(40:02):
through my own research and speaking to other people. But
it's like little things like that, you know, what we
never really know much about. So this links in with
the education side of things, where it's like, right, well,
what did I wish I knew a little bit more
about that I can educate my clients on. So I
like to do you know presentations like like PowerPoint presentations

(40:25):
on different topics that a lot of my clients are
get a lot of benefit from, whether it's mindset, whether
it's health and fitness related teachings, whether it's nutrition, whether
it's you know, ways that we can work on building
up our habits and our behaviors. And yeah, it's a
lot when you think about it, a lot too. Diabetes.

Speaker 4 (40:50):
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the makers of omnipod tube free incident pump therapy. I've
personally used pod therapy to manage my type one diabetes
for years, and using Omnipod five automated insulin delivery has
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(41:11):
of course no multiple daily injections. How well, Omnipod five
automatically adjust my insulin every five minutes to help keep
me in range, allowing life outside of type one diabetes
to get bigger. If you want to know more, head
to omnipod dot com. What in your mind is the

(41:33):
kind of capacity for the relationship or what is the
differences in the relationship between someone who's seeking a coach
and the healthcare professional. What's the line for you where
you say, oh, no, that's something that you should go
to your diabetes team to because it strikes me that
absolutely their space for both and more than that, it's

(41:53):
actually really important that we have these pillars as well
as the tools to manage the condition on on a
kind of base level. Absolutely, But for someone listening who
hasn't really considered a coach but maybe is thinking, actually,
I want to feel a bit better about this, or
I want to feel more empowered about this or more
accepting of this, or maybe it might be glucose level

(42:17):
or health and fitness goals.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
How does that kind of coexist if you like, with
the healthcare team.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
Absolutely, I mean, like, obviously when it comes to our
healthcare professional, the healthcare professionals, I'm not a medical professional.
I don't give any advice on inchlin or anything like that.
And everyone's day of the easy is different, and that's
the thing, Like it's it's one of those where it's
so important for if anything, I try and push my

(42:44):
clients to, you know, make sure you're in regular contact
with your medical team, make sure that you utilize what's
available to you, because again it's like at the minute,
I'm I'm having like with my group or levels, I'm
actually wondering whether too because I'm an MD, I'm wondering
whether to split my basil doors or not. And I'm
in kind of two minds at the minute. And this

(43:07):
is something that I need advice from from my medical
team because again it's this isn't something that I understand myself.
And this is why it's so important for us to
attend our appointments and make sure that we're consistent with
them and you know, just gaining as much knowledge as
because that's the thing we I mean, we learn. We
do learn a lot from our medical So everything that

(43:30):
I know today is through my what I've learned from
my end or. And I think when it comes to
see the best way to see a coach is like
a fairy godmother on his shoulder. That's what I know.
My clients say, so they say, but as you look
like my diabetic very godmother on my shoulder, it's kind
of like you know, you're not here in front of me,
but you hear on my shoulder, motivating me to keep going.

(43:53):
And that's probably a good way to if you think
about coaching, it's that motivation that you know, motivation to
keep going. And obviously our healthcare teams are the ones
who are there to you know, get us to that
number or get us to that full understanding of what
it is that we need to do.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Yeah, yeah, that makes so much sense. So what's the
kind of main trigger if you like, that takes people
from doing this keeping on, keeping on, if you like,
and coming to work with you? What is it that
people are looking to improve?

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I mean, it depends of really, I've got a lot
of different clients who all have different goals like I.
So some clients just want to feel better, feel stronger,
drop a bit of body back, build a bit of muscle.
So there's that side to that side of things. And
then I have clients who come to me just say, look,
I'm just struggling to accept my diabetes. I'm struggling to

(44:56):
even fully understand what I need to do move forward
to help to you know, just be the healthiest version possible.
And I have clients come to me who you know,
the struggling to be consistent with what it is that
they know they need to do. And again, sometimes it's
just having that person there to push them in that

(45:18):
right direction and to help them to understand, you know,
what it is that's going to help. And sometimes just
hearing from others what works. Like the amount of things
that I've kind of found myself over the years and
researched myself that have such a huge impact. Like I
never realized how stress impacted my glu coross levels. I

(45:40):
was never told that that would have an impact. I
knew that being unwell would impact it, but I never
realized that. You know, if I got up late in
the morning and just rushed out of the door, my
glucal levels will shoot up and by ten millimol just
because of the strength of that. But I think sometimes
when we so around ourselves with people with diabetes, and

(46:03):
you know, sometimes we have people break things down for us,
it just helps us to process everything so much easier.
So yeah, everywhere, again, everyone's goals are different. Again, some
clients just need that it's just support. Some clients just
want to have a better relationship with the diabetes. So
I always say like I've got a relationship with it.

(46:25):
It's a have it on my shoulder. There's always though,
and sometimes it annoys me and it's just you know,
do my head in. But sometimes I can get on
with it, and it's having that relationship with it where
it's like acceptance of Okay, there are going to be
good days, there are going to be bad days, and
what I not to make this sound negative, but when
I have a really good day, I always think, but

(46:47):
it's not going to be like this all the time.
So I'm having a good day, but this is great.
Taken away from that, what I can and apply it
to the next day. But it's also probably not going
to be like this tomorrow. But that's okay, because every
day is just a different day when it comes to diabetes.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Yeah, yeah, it's I would be similar like not to
get stuck in the lows and how that feels, but
equally not to just rest in the kind of I
don't mean highs in high blood sugar. I mean highs
is in successes, and I absolutely do celebrate the smallest
of wins.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
I'm like, oh, lunch nailed it.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Yeah, But yeah, with that awareness, yeah, that this is ongoing.
So with that, when there are so many elements to consider,
where do you generally start with your clients? I know,
obviously it will be dependent on their goal, but does
kind of overhaul everything approach generally work or is it

(47:46):
taking it piece by piece?

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Like how does that work?

Speaker 2 (47:50):
What I like to do with my clients is set
longer term goals. So again, it all depends on what
the goals are. I like to set longer term goals
in my clients. Of there's a lot of research around
like goal setting and how that can benefit behavior change
in general, especially when it comes to like that loss
or you know, fitness goals. I always like set goals

(48:11):
and my clients where it could even be you know,
let's say they feel a one out of ten with
the confidence with the diabetes, they want to get to
a nine out of ten. That is a goal like
that is a goal to work towards, and a lot
of people they don't have a lot of confidence with it.
They don't feel, you know, like they've got that good
relationship with it. So sometimes it's having something like setting

(48:32):
stone to work towards. So yeah, again it all depends
on what the goals are. And then I have weekly
checking on my clients as well, so we monitor progress
each week. I give feedback, and again it's having that
very godmother on his shoulder overseeing everything and you know,
giving some light into what they could do moving forward.

(48:54):
And you know, strategies that I've found have really helped
me over the years. So again I've kind of gone
from one extreme to the other and it's what's helped
me along the way, and you know that could also
help someone else as well.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yeah, okay, So when it comes to something like building confidence,
what would you start with, Like, how would you go
about building that up for someone from a one, two
and nine.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
I think the main thing is we've always got to
kind of see diabetes as something that we need to
visually see, so just writing down what you're eating, looking
at what's going on. Sometimes it can be as simple
as us writing what our groups is before we eat something,
what we're eating, and what is it after and then

(49:41):
you can see it there in front of you, and
that makes so even though that might not seem like
a big deal, it can make such a big difference
when we actually see it in front of us. Because
the thing is, it's easy for us to switch off
from everything and setting little goals where it's you know, okay,
well what little mini goal and I incorporate each day
that's going to really help me to build my confidence

(50:04):
with my diabetes. So for me, I might make a
goal where, you know, give yourself a little bit of
a daily goal where I'm consciously, you know, trying to
make sure our pre balls because that's something that I
find definitely, definitely makes a huge difference. I might make
sure that I, you know, drink my three liters of

(50:25):
water because I've never told that if we're dehydrated, that
can impact local levels. So it's just little things like that,
you know, it could be checking my levels a little
bit more. You know. I've got some client too. They
don't use c gms, and they're still using you know,
the the usual fingerpriip and the meter and they may

(50:49):
only do it twice a day. Let's try and do
that four times a day. Let's try and do that
six times a day and again. So it just depends
just depends on each individual. Everyone is so different. But
just by sometimes getting into better habits and seeing that
these better habits have a positive impact, it might not

(51:09):
even be you know that you know, our levels may
not change that much, but the fact that we're actually
taking the bull by the horns a little bit more
that improves confidence so much more.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Absolutely, I think I've said it before, but I think
I thought diabetes need to be separate from my life,
because if I did let it into a big extent,
that meant like diabetes had one. But actually, when I
did start to make a bit more of a conscious
decision making approach and kind of allow type one diabetes

(51:44):
to take up more space, I was very empowered by
knowing that I was consciously taking steps to try and
improve my health. And I didn't realize, like we were
talking about it at the beginning, you just got used
to being high with a high glue plase level all
the time and that was your norm. I don't think

(52:06):
I realized how bad I was actually feeling. Do you
see that change in people when they start to make
changes that they realize, oh, I actually I do feel better.
Does that happen consciously and does it happen quite quickly
that people can can see that this is kind of helping?

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
I mean the amount of messages that I get from
people saying, you know, I feel so much better in general,
just because at the end of the day, when you
think about it, when our levels are continuously hot, it's
not healthy for the body. But even though we never
feel like that, we just think we kin of to
get on with it, can't we When you think about it,

(52:42):
isn't it isn't healthy? And is it any wonder we
feel tired? Is it any wonder we feel thirsty? I mean,
you look at pictures of me when I was a teenager,
and I look older. I don't think I do what
people say, oh my god, you look older when you
were younger to what you do now. And I was like, really,
well again, I was just ronically, very very high all

(53:04):
the time. But yeah, I think that, you know, in general,
I always say, I think you can kind of get
to that point, don't you anyway, when you're kind of
in your thirties, and then it's kind of it's all
about health and wellnesses are always a little bit different.
But yeah, as you get into your thirties, it's all
about the supplements. It's all about the sleep.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Oh my god, sleep.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
I could wax on about that in relation to my
blood glucose levels forever.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Yeah, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
It's told about that either as well sleep and how
that can impact it.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
I was just thinking, there, you've touched on time of
the month, that impacts gluecose levels, stress, how that impacts
cocose levels, sleep, then pre bowl a sing all these
little tiny things that you don't know if you don't know,
and that they these are like foundations for me now,
but I absolutely had no awareness of them. Are there

(53:58):
any others that you can think of that are they
have quite a big impact on a person with type
one diabetes? But maybe we're not always informed about these
kinds of things.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
I mean, obviously I'm not a medical professional. Everyone's diabetes
are different. Anything that really obviously like goes through your
medical team. For me personally, time of the month, hormones shred,
time of the day, and sleep, how much sleep I've
had the night before. Illness obviously is a big one.

(54:31):
Pre bowler, same activity, the different types of activity and
how they impact my glosmal levels. The time of the
day that I exercise has a big impact. Hydration again,
if I'm not hydrated, that can have a big impact.
My site is a big one. So I people always

(54:52):
say to me, why are you injecting in your arms.
I was injecting my out not all the time, but
that's usually where either that my stomach my leg. I
can't inject in my leg, but I personally find that
it does not absorb as well as what I do
in master mark in my arm. And I've trialed it
because I have the same breakfast every morning. I love
my own point in the morning. It might change it
up a little bit, but I know how it's going

(55:12):
to impact my levels, and I'll pre bowl us the
same time, but I'll change where I do it, and
the results are completely different. And that's involved back to
that doing it in my arm the next day and
my blood strugs will be absolutely fine. For doinging my leg.
It doesn't absorb as quickly. But again that's that's just
why I personally find myself, and it's just through trial
and error. And that's the thing with diabet it is

(55:35):
literally trial and error every single day.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
Yeah, And you kind of have to make those little
errors for yourself, don't you to figure out as you
say that your leg isn't as efficient for you as
your arm, And it's so personal and it is you,
And yeah, I can understand, like certainly why there's fear
around that because there are consequences too, sort of changing
things up. Yeah, what would you say to someone who's

(56:02):
listening and thinking, Okay, I do want to make some changes,
but I don't want to give up my kind of
joys in life, the things that I enjoy. And you
mentioned it earlier that for you, it is about balance
and I know you like going out on the weekend
and things like that are important to you and having
a life that isn't just consumed by diabetes. For people
who think that making these changes is going to kind

(56:24):
of take over, and it sounds like a lot of work,
and it sounds like something they maybe don't have time for,
but they do want to adopt healthier habits, Let's say,
what would you say to someone who's in that situation?

Speaker 2 (56:40):
But it comes down to diabetes. It's not letting diabetes
rule our lives. It's about being able to live our
lives with diabetes along the way. So it's, you know again,
it's learning about our bodies, learning about what we need
to do. And it doesn't mean that whenever we do,
you know, go out and let our ho down, that
we just forget that we've got diabetes. It's not like

(57:00):
that at all, explaining about, Okay, well, what proactively can
I do to help with this, like what changes can
I make or how can I prepare so that you know,
I can manage my levels as best I can in
this situation. I think it's acceptance sometimes where you know
what they're not going to be the perfect when we're
eating out of a meal, because there's only so much
that we can control. Nobody can track to a t

(57:22):
what they're having when they're about to sit down for
a meal, or no one can you know, pre ballius
on point when we're you know, just our meals plump
down in front of us. We're not gonna wait while
everyone else is just eating eating the meal. And sometimes
I kind of allow myself the don't as be why

(57:43):
I say this, but I call them spoons, and I
give myself like five spoons a weekend. So it's like,
you know, if I've not not got times Pury rolls, right,
that's one of the spoons. And yeah, I kind of alaw.
It's like allowing yourself just to be a little bit
more relaxed about it. Because I always take personally, I
take the ninety ten or frauds the diabet easily eight

(58:03):
to twenty aproat if eighty percent of my week I've
been on point. You know, I tried my best. I
allow myself twenty percent time where I'm just a bit
more relaxed with it.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Yeah, you're making me think as well, Like a lot
of this we just kind of carrying our heads and
we see it dynamically moving in real time on our
phones now with our cgms and things. And you mentioned
there about writing down and color coding and highlighting. I'm
wondering if like taking it back to basics and visualizing things,
because so much of it is just contained in this
second brain that you mentioned, whether that might be is

(58:34):
that something that you found helps helps certain certain clients,
certain types of people to.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Take it down.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
So it isn't this big thing that you're just kind
of trying to keep juggling and in the air.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean this is why my clients quite
enjoy writing things down weekly when they do the checking,
because sometimes we need to get off like how we feel,
you know, get get out how we feel and you know,
how are we to being what has been you know,
our wins for the week what's been a struggle this week,
or what do we want to improve on next week,
because that's the thing with diabetes. We are constantly just

(59:10):
kind of always reviewing things day to day, and it's
sometimes it is writing things down which really does help,
and then we can reflect on, Okay, that's what I
struggle with this week, So this is what I want
to work on next week, because I know that by
doing that that will help a lot, and not even
with diabetes, just with anything. If we you know, that's
why journaling is brilliant, because we can reflect on what's

(59:31):
gone well, what's not gone quite well, what can we
change so that things will improve a little bit more
for us next week, et cetera. So yeah, I think,
I mean I still write things down anyway. I'm like
old school diary writing, highlighting everything. I write things down
all the time.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
I think it's kind of helpful to just touch on
these different ways that you can approach this, because I mean,
for a long time, I only knew my way and
I didn't realize there would, like you said, nine million
other ways of managing this. So it's fun to kind
of play around with this and kind of articulate that
how do you personally maintain compassion and kindness to yourself

(01:00:12):
when the numbers don't add up, as they inevitably don't
always make sense.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Again, it's one of those why whenever I see numbers
that I don't really want to see again, Accepted players
a big role where I accept that, you know, not
everything that I do is always going to be correct
at that moment in time. And that's just that's the
thing with diabetes. It's never linear, it's never always going
to be the same. And rather than switching off from

(01:00:40):
it and ignoring it, and this, you know, trying to
teach a lot of my clients is looking at that
and thinking, right, okay, why is it gone up? This
is the thing without Google levels, whenever they go up,
even though I might say, oh, there's no reason for
it to go up, there is a reason. There's always
going to be a reason, and sometimes that reason is
in our control. Sometimes it's out of back control. Percent

(01:01:01):
at the time it's out of my control illness, stress ormones.
Ninety percent of the time it is in my control,
and a lot of the time it's just because I've
forgot something or I might not have done something consistently.
But again, this is why reviewing that and thinking right, Okay,
this is what I've done and could have maybe pre
bolced a bit sooner. I didn't quite track that to

(01:01:22):
a t I might have, you know, like not really
tracked the carbohydrates correctly.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Okay, I can learn from that and just move on
the next day, and I know for next time, next
time I had that tweet or next time I do that.
It's size and it's it's kind of accepting that every
day is going to be a learning curve and we'll
always learn something from everything we do with our diabetes.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Yeah, and you've helped so many people as a you know,
a reflection of your own experience. The fact that you
took that and run with it and not only changed
your own life, but you've now changed the lives of
so many other people is absolutely incredible. Or what sense
of fulfillment and purpose does that personally give you? And
can you also describe the change in your clients that

(01:02:09):
you see when it starts to work in terms of
their perspective or their self belief, what it offers them
in terms.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
Of their quality of life outside of the numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing with my
clients is that confidence with the diabetes. And it doesn't
mean that confidence doesn't equal amazing good cross levels. Confidence
is feeling like they can grasp the diabetes and they
can live the best life with diabetes alongside them. And

(01:02:40):
again it's that confidence and that feeling of you know
that they're getting they're doing the best. I think if
we can go through the day and get to the
end of the day and think, sure, I'll try my
best and that is all I can do, then you
know that's the thing because when it comes to diabetes again,
there is no off switch from it, and we're never

(01:03:01):
always going to feel fulfilled with it. There are going
to be days where we're struggling and a lot of
my clients come away and just feel so much more
in a better place with it and meet so many
other amazing people with diabetes as well. I think that's
another big thing because again because I put a big
emphasis on the community side of things, and even if

(01:03:23):
my clients come away and have learned one little thing
to take into the future, then I've done my job
then because again it's like again linking back with what
did I need when I was younger? That's what I
always try and think about and think, how can I
help others, especially, you know, if they're in the similar
situation with what I was back then, Because I really

(01:03:45):
did struggle. I didn't even even really know what it was.
So again, it's like even just that little bit of
an increase in confidence or control or just overall better
relationship with diabetes, and yeah, that's when I've know that
I've done my job.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Yeah, And you talk about dominating your diabetes in light
of you know, you're very clear that there's no such
thing as perfection with type one diabetes. So what does
dominating diabetes mean for you personally? Having come as far
as you have and experience to every emotion possible with

(01:04:24):
type one diabetes?

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
I think when it comes down to dominating diabetes, it
is living like the absolute fullest whatever that might be
for each individual and diabetes coming along the journey with us,
rather than stopping us doing anything along the way and

(01:04:48):
not letting it mentally take over, not letting it just
be constantly in our thoughts, overriding everything else. And I again,
just having it on the shoulder. Is that parrot on
the shoulder that you can get along with but at
the same time, you know, you might have days which

(01:05:10):
are tough, but it doesn't ruin your day or your week,
And it's just kind of seeing it as a part
of us rather than you know, don't get it wrong.
I mean, people say, what would it be like if
you didn't have diabetes, and I think, well, I don't
actually know, because it is literally all such a big
part of my life. And to be honest, like I

(01:05:31):
always say to clients, you know, when we look at
the positives of diabetes, because there are positives to it,
in a sense of you know, without my diabetes, I'd
probably not be the healthiest version of myself. I truly
believe that, even though ironically I've got type one diabetes,
I do think that I'm probably the healthiest version of
myself compared to if I didn't have it. So, yeah,

(01:05:53):
it's sometimes good to reflect on little things like that each.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Tea absolutely and acknowledging how much we're doing and celebrating
how much we are investing in ourselves no matter what
the numbers say. I think, yeah, it's important because we
we deserve to know that we're doing a good job regardless,
right we're trying. Yeah, what would you go back and

(01:06:20):
say to teenage Vanessa who was struggling, who had given
up caring and didn't want.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
To do diabetes? What would you go back and say
to her? Now?

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Say keep going? And I would say, diabetes will make
you the strongest version of you. And yeah, it's a
funny one. It's quite a big question. There is a
what that I would say. I'd say, just keep trying,
just keep going, don't give up. Well, yeah, I think

(01:06:54):
it's again. I always use that analogy when I work
with a client sort of thing in my there with me?
Then what would I say for me? And how would
I want to help me?

Speaker 3 (01:07:07):
Yeah, give them a big hug?

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Okay, where can people find you if they want to
know more about you and the work that you're doing
and how you can help people.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
So I've got my Instagram page which is Diabetic Health
Coach on Instagram and Facebook, also on my website www
dot diabetic health coll dot got dot uk. And yeah,
I put quite a lot of content on social media
diabetes related that a lot of people will be able
to relate to.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
Absolutely, I certainly can.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
I got a bit emotional there when you were talking
about the teenage Vanessa.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
So I've got just been away a.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
Little tea, but I just think, you know, we are
dealing with so much, and I hope this has offered
comfort to people out there that you're not alone in this,
that it can get better, that we're all trying, and
we all deserve that hug that you know, childhood us,
adult diagnosis us, whoever it is, and wherever you're at
with your type one diabetes. So thank you so much

(01:08:13):
for sharing your story. I think it's incredibly powerful, and
thank you for being a fairy godmother to so many.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Oh, thank you for having me Ja, and it's been
a pleasure.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
I hope you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Enjoyed this episode of Type one on one. Please remember
that nothing you hear on this podcast should be taken
as medical advice. I'm definitely not a healthcare professional. If
you like what you hear, hit subscribe and do leave
a little review on iTunes if.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
You have time.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
It really helps to spread the word about type one diabetes.
And thank you so much for listening.