Juicebox Podcast in Diabetes Forecast Magazine!

Diabetes podcasts in the spotlight!

A huge thanks to Diabetes Forecast Magazine for spending some ink on the podcasts dedicated to people living with type 1 diabetes. You can listen to my show below or follow the link to Diabetes Forecast to see the others highlighted.

Apple Podcasts - http://bit.ly/JBPAPod
Android - http://bit.ly/jbpandroid
Spotify - http://bit.ly/JBPspot
Google Play - http://bit.ly/JBPGoogplay
or JuiceboxPodcast.com

Check out the latest edition of Diabetes Forecast Magazine… on your newsstand now.

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Celebration!

50,000 Downloads!

Thank you for listening to the Juicebox Podcast and for supporting our sponsor OmniPod. I can't believe that the podcast has already reached so many people. I would like to thank each of you for subscribing, listening and for spreading the word. A special shoutout to those of you who have shared your experiences. Your candid and brave descriptions of your life with diabetes have strengthened the diabetes community and added to its advocacy and awareness. I have been honored to speak with each of you and look forward to much more in the future! 

For those of you who haven't checked out the podcast.... c'mon 50,000 people can't all be wrong. Subscribe in iTunes, listen online, read a review. All you need is a browser or a podcast app (iPhone users, the app is already on your phone - just search 'Juicebox Podcast' and start listening today.

Available everywhere podcasts are found.... coming soon to the Google Play store.

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Tell Starbucks How You Feel

Recently a Starbucks employee marked a cup with the words "Diabetes Here I Come". Details of the story both text and the video report are from Action News Jax. 

If you are inclined to share, please leave a comment below that explains how those words make you and your family feel. I will make sure that your message arrives at the Starbucks corporate office. This is not an attempt to place blame but an opportunity to share stories to raise awareness. 

from Action News Jax

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — 

Some need a pick me-up in the early mornings. Many people head to Starbucks for their dose of caffein. by: Kaitlyn Chana, Action News Jax Updated: Apr 11, 2016 - 4:54 PM

However, one customer received an unexpected comment on their coffee cup label: “DIABETES HERE I COME.”

View fullsize

Click to enlarge.

That's the message printed on a grande cup of white mocha served to a customer at the Palencia Starbucks.

A photo of the message on the cup was shared with Action News Jax on Facebook.

“That first word just automatically brought the picture of both sisters in my head, and I was taken aback,” said the Starbucks customer.

This customer told Action News Jax he works near the coffee shop and a fellow employee picked up coffees for their staff.  His cup had the unusual message. He told Action News Jax the diabetes statement hits close to home because his two sisters suffer from type 1 diabetes.

“Just the struggles they went through and all the doctor appointments they had,” said the customer. Action News Jax took the questions to store manager, Kent Miller and showed him pictures of the cup. When asked if this was something Starbucks condones, he said, “No, we definitely don’t condone, but let me find more about this, and I will talk to my boss.”

Miller said the only thing that should be written on the label is the drink type and the name of the customer.

Action News Jax sent an email and called Starbucks corporate headquarters for a comment, and they said, “We strive to provide an inclusive and positive experience for our customers, and we're disappointed to learn of this incident. We are working directly with the customer to apologize for his experience, and with our partners (employees) to ensure this does not happen again.”

A 16-ounce white chocolate mocha has 470 calories when it’s made with 2-percent milk. The customer wrote a note on the same cup and left a message for the baristas in hopes these employees won’t judge other people. The note reads, "2 of my sisters are diabetic, so ... not funny."

“Seeing and knowing the struggle my sisters went through by third, fourth grade, it definitely struck a nerve, and I didn’t just want to let it go,” said the customer.

The customer said he doesn’t need an apology. Instead, he just wants reassurance that this won’t happen to a future customer. 

Please leave your thoughts in the comment section. They can be signed or anonymous, which ever makes you most comfortable.

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I Can: A Diabetes Blog Week Day 1 Post by Nicky Gil

Nicky Gil is thirteen year old Ainsleigh's mom...  Nicky wanted to write for blog week and tell the story of the fear that she felt as she contemplated meal preparation during the first days of her daughter's diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. Her words really get to the heart of how a type 1 diagnosis can make a person feel.

I can make eggs 10 different ways...

I can make eggs 10 different ways. Just ask my daughter. That’s all she ate in the first few days after diagnosis when my refrigerator became this vast, cold box of completely forbidden and potentially deadly foods; but eggs, the “incredible, edible” were warm, filling and safe.  We’d had nutrition training the first week of diagnosis.  We’d met with the dietitian, the endocrinologist, multiple nurses – all sources of solid, reliable dietary guidance; this was not the issue – fear was.  I would stand in my kitchen at mealtime, paralyzed that my wrong choice would cost her a leg, a kidney, her eyesight, her life.  I wasn’t ready risk it for the sake of a piece of toast.  Eggs!  Eggs were safe.

hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, bolus, basal, diabetic ketoacidosis,“carb to insulin” ratio

The eggs weren’t the only scrambled things those first few days.  New vocabulary bounced around my brain in no particular order - hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, bolus, basal, diabetic ketoacidosis,“carb to insulin” ratio - flashcards wouldn’t have been a bad idea.   Meal creation was too daunting a task, I thought, given my limited knowledge of what was “safe.”  Thankfully, our diagnosis occurred in the summer, when I had access to a carton of eggs and a stove all day long and mercifully didn’t have to contemplate meals beyond the house just yet.  Perhaps, this would have nudged me to conquer my fear a couple days sooner and saved my family my unfortunate foray into poaching – perhaps.

My daughter took her reduced option menu in stride as, I’m sure, my confusion was nothing compared to hers.  Overnight, her world had completely transformed.  The pantry during the summers her first eight years was an open door – stocked (somewhat) nutritionally as the hours between a prepared breakfast and a prepared dinner were much more free flowing than during the school year.  Our pantry might as well have had an armed guard standing next to it the first week of diagnosis; it was right up there with the refrigerator in terms of its standing as a weapon of mass destruction.  In addition to her now (severely limited) food choices, we kept coming at her with small needles a few times a day and sticking them into her fingers and slighter bigger needles at mealtimes and sticking those into her stomach.  And we were full of (misguided) directions those first few days – no soccer, no ice cream, no sleepovers, drink this, eat your eggs.

Nicky Gil

It took three days for my daughter to decide she’d had enough.  As I approached with the needle, my shaking hand not very reassuring despite her telling me in exasperation multiple times, “It doesn’t hurt,” she took the insulin pen, looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll do it!”  Three days.  She’d had enough.  She’d was growing weary of fear – mine and hers.  I followed her lead, albeit a little more slowly.  She seized control of her situation in three days.  I branched out to toast with the eggs a few days after.  She learned to prick her own finger and I began to mentally unlock the pantry and the refrigerator.  As she learned to cope, I learned to manage my anxiety.

Four and half years in and I’ve just picked up a package of double stuffed Oreos at her request.  Funny, this isn’t something I would have given her pre diagnosis but, now, I fund the rebellious cookies.  She’ll carb count, she’ll program her pump, I’ll advise against more than one.  Our meals now include a variety of foods, most healthy, some not so healthy.  She ice skates daily, she goes to sleepovers (and texts me her numbers religiously if she wants to be allowed to go to the next one), she packs her lunch bag.  We worked our way slowly out of our first protein packed, miserable days.  We fought fear in our own way that first week, now we fight diabetes together, daily.  

Ainsleigh still eats eggs...

Nicky Gil - Mom of Ainsleigh Gil, age 13
Richmond, VA

Remember, anyone that wants to write for blog week and doesn't have an outlet for their words only needs to email me - I am happy to give your writing a home. - Scott

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My Interview with Ryan Reed

Fresh from his first NASCAR victory, 21 year old Ryan Reed sits down with me to talk about his type 1 diabetes diagnosis, racing with diabetes and what it feels like to win his first race. 

You really do not want to miss a second of my conversation with Ryan. You'll learn everything from how he reacted when a doctor told him that he couldn't drive a race car after his diagnosis, to what 190 M.P.H. feels like - and just how does he keep his blood sugar from crashing in a 150º race car?

Seriously, if you haven't tried my new podcast yet, this is definitely the week to jump in.

One your mark...

Get set...

GO! listen to the podcast

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