#1362 Rollin’ with Elizabeth

November 19, 2024Scott Benner

18 year old Elizabeth shares her story.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Today, I'll be speaking with Elizabeth, who is 18 years old. She's an athlete into martial arts and judo. She's had type one diabetes for five years. This is her story. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox podcast, private Facebook group. Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome type one, type two, gestational loved ones. It doesn't matter to me if you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Are you an adult living with type one or the caregiver of someone who is and a US resident? If you are, I'd love it if you would go to T 1d exchange.org/juicebox and take the survey. When you complete that survey, your answers are used to move type one diabetes research of all kinds. So if you'd like to help with type one research, but don't have time to go to a doctor or an investigation and you want to do something right there from your sofa. This is the way today's episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by the ever since 365 the one year where CGM that's one insertion a year. That's it. And here's a little bonus for you. How about there's no limit on how many friends and family you can share your data with with the ever since now app no limits. Ever since us med is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from us med for years. You can as well us med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, use the link or the number get your free benefits. Check and get started today with us. Med, this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries, G VO, hypo, pen. Find out more at gvoke, glucagon.com, forward slash Juicebox.

Elizabeth 2:26
Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I am a type one diabetic athlete, and I do judo, which is a martial arts and today I'm on the Juicebox podcast.

Scott Benner 2:36
And a second ago, Elizabeth introduced herself, and I didn't have her track recording, so now it's recording. We're all good. Here's what I learned in the 35 seconds before I realized I wasn't recording your voice. You're 17, you're almost 18. You'll be 18 on July 19, which is just a few days after my 53rd birthday. We're both cancers, but you don't find yourself to be particularly emotional like I do? Yeah. Do you think it's possible that none of that means anything, whether you're like a Pisces or a cancer or something like that?

Elizabeth 3:09
Personally, I think that it has nothing to do with you. You are you, and you be strong as you.

Scott Benner 3:15
I agree. What makes you come on the podcast? What do you want? What made you reach out from previous

Elizabeth 3:22
experiences I haven't really had the chance to meet any other type one diabetes in the martial arts community, and those that I have met, they do not compete to the level that I do. Hold on a second you were hoping

Scott Benner 3:35
what, Elizabeth, you sound like, you might be a little ass kicker. Are you out there rolling with the big boys. What's going on?

Elizabeth 3:41
Well, I would hope so. I actually I compete interprovincially and internationally on Team Alberta. So Oh, my God. Oh,

Scott Benner 3:50
you're Canadian.

Elizabeth 3:51
I am, yeah, oh, I

Scott Benner 3:53
didn't know. I thought you sounded extra polite, but I didn't know. Hold on, a second. How long have you had type one diabetes?

Elizabeth 4:00
I have had type one diabetes for five years this November.

Scott Benner 4:04
Oh, okay, no kidding, so you were how old when you were diagnosed?

Elizabeth 4:10
I was about 11 or 1211. Or

Scott Benner 4:13
12, okay, 11 or 12 in Canada. Always been Canadian. They didn't. You didn't move there or anything like that. Yep, born and raised. So when you were diagnosed that they put you on regular and mph,

Elizabeth 4:24
regular and mph. I'm not quite familiar with the terms. Then you

Scott Benner 4:28
didn't. Then it wasn't you. Some of the provinces use an older form of insulin when people are diagnosed. But you you, what did you start with?

Elizabeth 4:37
I started with basal. Glory and humility, actually. Okay, so

Scott Benner 4:40
you started with more modern Did you know that province? And should I say province or province? Does it matter to you? I don't want to insult you either. Art is fine. Okay, province. There they do it differently from from one to the other. Oh, that's cool. Interesting. So you're in. Let's see either I gotta test myself on this Toronto. Toe would do more modern insulin. So would trying to think of the different provinces. Never mind. I'll never figure it out. Do you live? Do you live where the abominable snow monster lives? Or are you near a building?

Elizabeth 5:13
Well, I mean, I'm in a building, but it gets pretty cold here.

Scott Benner 5:18
Is it an igloo that you're in, be honest, not

Elizabeth 5:21
quite, no, it's, it's a pretty nice house, I'll be honest.

Scott Benner 5:25
I've had, I've had some deep conversations with other Canadians. One was a little girl recently, she tried to tell me that you even have cars in Canada, which I thought was crazy, because obviously you live on a frozen hellscape. There's just polar bears and penguins and everything. But she said, No. She said, like, there's like, towns and sidewalks and everything. So I chose the believer.

Elizabeth 5:46
Are you saying, As shocking as it sounds, that is true, we do have cars.

Scott Benner 5:49
You're representing the same ideas. Okay, that's okay. When did you start? By the way, did you like when I said rolling? Like I knew a little bit about judo? Yes, yeah. It's pretty impressive, I imagine for you first, let me talk to you a little bit about your diagnosis. I want to just kind of get that story for you. So do you remember much about it?

Elizabeth 6:07
I do actually, I was in my junior high years, and I had been sick for a little while. Not quite sure why. I was like, oh, probably just a common cold, like, whatever. But then it didn't really start getting better after about three, four days, I ended up going to get checked out at the hospital nearby, and I ended up admitted that night, and they were like, well, yep, you have type one diabetes. And like, this is something you'll have for life. And I definitely remember being pretty scared because I didn't really know what was going on and what was happening, but I was lucky enough that I had both my parents there to support me. Very nice.

Scott Benner 6:46
Any other family members, brothers, sisters,

Elizabeth 6:48
I do actually, I have three younger brothers, none of which have diabetes, which they're pretty lucky. The

Scott Benner 6:55
word bothers wrong. But when you were younger, did it? Did it make you upset that you were the only one that had it,

Elizabeth 7:01
honestly, I don't think it did. I think the biggest part for me was that, honestly, I was actually really, really scared of needles. Yeah, so I was just a little bit jealous. Were you

Scott Benner 7:10
able to get past that, or do you still have an

Elizabeth 7:14
aversion? I think I'm okay. Now, I look at a needle and it's like, well, this is part of my everyday life. So I think I'm okay. Now, cool.

Scott Benner 7:22
How about other autoimmune stuff for you? Do you have celiac or thyroid stuff, or anything like that?

Elizabeth 7:27
I do. Actually, I am a celiac. Oh, but, but

Scott Benner 7:31
that's probably not a problem in Canada, because you just drink ice water all day, right?

Elizabeth 7:37
As much as I wish that was true, I definitely missed the taste of bread.

Scott Benner 7:41
Tell everybody how to prepare whale fat as soap.

Go ahead. I have no idea. Okay, fine.

So you do. When were you diagnosed with celiac? Oh, I

Elizabeth 7:52
think I was nine before the type one. It was before the type one.

Scott Benner 7:57
You were making a little pile of autoimmune issues, and nobody else in the family with that, even I

Elizabeth 8:03
have a distant cousin who's like, three times removed, who has celiac, but I think that's it. Jeez.

Scott Benner 8:09
Lucky you. Well, Elizabeth, way to just gather all the stuff up for yourself and not share it with anybody else. How about your parents? Did they have anything going on,

Unknown Speaker 8:21
like medical stuff,

Scott Benner 8:21
no, how about that? So did you have, do you remember a virus before you were diagnosed, or anything like that? Yes,

Elizabeth 8:28
actually, I do remember this. So about a week and, yeah, just about a week before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I got a really viral, like disease or sickness. It was called 10 Foot Mouth Coxsackie

Scott Benner 8:41
virus. Yes, that's what my daughter had before she was diagnosed. Yep, yeah. Now you know somebody else who that happened to. So, yeah, we're going to expand your little universe, uh, pretty, pretty quickly with, uh, with this conversation Coxsackie. No kidding, yeah. Arden had it when she was two, and it just didn't go away, and then next thing he knew, she had diabetes. Sucks. Sorry. Well, what a bummer. How do you find the podcast like? How does a 17 year old listen to a podcast made by a 52 year old guy? If you take insulin or so final ureas, you are at risk for your blood sugar going too low, you need a safety net when it matters most, be ready with G vo hypo pen. My daughter carries G vo hypo pen everywhere she goes, because it's a ready to use rescue pen for treating very low blood sugar in people with diabetes ages two and above that. I trust low blood sugar. Emergencies can happen unexpectedly and they demand quick action. Luckily, jivo kypo pen can be administered in two simple steps, even by yourself in certain situations. Show those around you where you store G, vo khypo pen and how to use it. They need to know how to use G. Pen before an emergency situation happens. Learn more about why GEVO kypo Pen is in Arden's diabetes toolkit at gvoke, glucagon.com/juicebox, gvoke shouldn't be used if you have a tumor in the gland on the top of your kidneys called a pheochromocytoma, or if you have a tumor in your pancreas called an insulin OMA visit, gevok, glucagon.com/risk, for safety information. I don't know how you guys order your diabetes supplies, like CGM pumps and testing equipment, but at our house, we use us Med, and I'm gonna walk you through the entire process right now. I'm looking at the email from us Med, it says it's time to refill your prescription, dear Arden, please click the button below to place your next order. Then you click the button that was it. Two days later, I got this email, thank you for your order from us. Med, we wanted to let you know that your order and it gives you an order number was shipped via UPS ground. You can track your package at any time using the link below, and then there was a link, and then it showed up at our house. Now I'm going to walk you through the entire chain of events. On the 29th which was the Saturday I clicked on the email on that Monday, the first I got an email that said the order had been sent four days later on the fifth the package arrived. If you can do it easier than that, you go get it. But if you can't us, med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, get started today with us. Med, get your diabetes supplies the same way we do.

Elizabeth 11:42
So actually, it was my mom who found the podcast while she was doing a little bit of research internationally for other athletes like myself who compete like at high levels and have diabetes, and she recommended the podcast to me. And so I started listening, and I was like, this seems kind of cool, and I kind of applied, or I kind of messaged you on a whim. I was like, well, maybe he'll say something, maybe not. And here I

Scott Benner 12:04
am. Here you are. Well, cool. So the podcast has been valuable for you. Very, very excellent. I want to figure out what you learned and how you apply it. First, tell me, where are you competing you you mentioned, like, how you what's the is it like a, I don't even know what to say, judo, like league or I don't understand,

Elizabeth 12:24
so, yeah, so I'm part of something called Team Alberta. So each of the provinces has its own, like, judo team that represents the province. And to be part of this team, you have to travel interprovincially. So I think I'm visited pretty much each of the provinces two or three times to even in the past two years. Okay, and I go and I compete, and it's like, the more medals you win, the higher you're standing. And it's like, the better chance you have of then competing internationally. So I was actually given the chance this past February to go to Denmark and compete for Team Alberta as well.

Scott Benner 12:58
You beat up people from Denmark. I did

Elizabeth 13:01
a little bit of beating up and then got beat up as well.

Scott Benner 13:05
Tell me how you get involved in judo. Judo in

Elizabeth 13:07
Canada specifically is a bit of a smaller community, just because it's not as widely spread as something like hockey or lacrosse. But there are a lot of local communities that have their own Judo clubs, whether they be fairly small or the same size as my club. My club is the biggest in the city that I'm from. All you have to do is show up to a class. There's nothing more to it. Everyone is there is very friendly. They're very welcoming, and they're there to teach you how to fall, how to participate in the sport, and simply how to enjoy it and have fun. How old were you when you started? I think I was about five, five or six. Really,

Scott Benner 13:44
did one of your parents do it, or is it something you showed an interest in? They took you to it.

Elizabeth 13:49
So my mom actually got remarried a couple years ago, and my stepdad was the one who was doing judo when we first met him, and he was like, you guys, should come try this awesome sport. And I was actually a dancer at the time, and I was like, beating people up. That sounds awesome. Finally, so I went, and I kind of just kept going, no

Scott Benner 14:09
kidding. Oh, that's very cool. What would you say about judo that other people wouldn't know like because you hear people who do it, they're very passionate about it, and I hear them talk about community and mental toughness and and learning moves and being able to feel how things are happening so you can respond to them. But like, what? What about that is attractive to you? Yeah, definitely,

Elizabeth 14:32
I definitely agree with all those things me. Personally, I find that tudo has given me a very strong sense of morals, and it has really taught me things like resilience and determination, and it has given me a lot of grit. It also gave me the chance to connect with people all over the world, and its community, as you said, is very vibrant and it's very welcoming. And even though you might go and you might compete against some of these people that you know on the mats when. You come off, you shake their hand, and you at the end of the day, it's just you did a good job. We had a good fight like, Thank you for coming. Thank you for showing up.

Scott Benner 15:07
What's the goal of a of a is it a match? Is that what it's called? Yes, okay, what's the goal of a match? Are you trying to score points? Are you trying to submit people? What is it you're trying to accomplish?

Elizabeth 15:20
Yeah, so it's, it's a point system, so you can score half points and you can score full points. So a half point is called a wazari, and a full point is called an EPON. And for the ages 1414, and up, once you score a full point, the match is actually over. But you can score that point in multiple different ways. You have your groundwork techniques, which you can do chokes, arm bars, or you can hold a person down for 20 seconds, and then in your standing you can throw this person, and if they land completely on their back, then that is the full point.

Scott Benner 15:54
How scared are you that you're going to dislocate your knee or elbow or something like that?

Elizabeth 15:59
I mean, I have had some experience with injuries in the past. Actually broke my collar bone and my foot on a couple different occasions, but I think that even though I was scared to get back on the mats after that injury, after any of the injuries that I've sustained, I think that it's the most important thing was that I kept going back and I kept persevering. Because even though I was scared, getting back on the mat renewed my self confidence, and it made me stronger in the end as well.

Scott Benner 16:30
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Elizabeth 18:07
Well, as a girl, just kind of, in this world, it's, it's nice to always have those kind of self defense skills, right? So even just that, and like, knowing that I know how to defend myself if I get into a tricky situation is really valuable to myself. And then for the self confidence part about coming back after an injury, I can say for sure, there is no better feeling than overcoming that mental block where you think you can't because of an injury, you sustain in the path, and you go above and beyond, and you achieve even more than what you wanted to originally. I think that is such an important part of your love for your sport, and it's important that you continue with it and go with it throughout your life.

Scott Benner 18:50
Yeah, yeah. You can tap out of a match anytime, right? You could just tell the referee, like I'm done. Is that right? I

Elizabeth 18:55
mean, yes, but I wouldn't suggest it, because your match only usually lasts about four minutes, so there's really no point in tapping out honestly. Okay, you want to you want to persevere. You want to push through. You want to do as much as you can in the time that you're given and get the best results you can Okay,

Scott Benner 19:14
and is it more about physical strength or using your opponents like motion against them. Like I hear people talk about that, I don't think I understand that completely.

Elizabeth 19:25
I think that's based on the person you are as a fighter and the person you're fighting. So in my personal category, I'm actually on the smaller side in terms of height. I'm only about 5556, and most of the girls I fight are about 510, 511, some even six feet. So a lot of these times, I can't simply muscle my way through them, because they just have longer arms, longer legs. They can reach their techniques better. So I have to use a little bit of a combination of that strength to get them moving, but then also the speed and technique that I've been developing throughout my. Charge you to life.

Scott Benner 20:00
Talk about the technique is it? Is it as specific as I feel pressure here, so I reach for this hold. Like, it's a lot of holds, right? Like, like, how would you explain what you're doing to somebody who has no idea about it? Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah.

Elizabeth 20:18
So the way that we like to describe how you get someone moving is, we call it action reaction. So if I'm going to do something, so if I'm going to push you backwards, you're going to react and try and react forwards. So as a judoka, we tend to use that action reaction to our own advantage. So if I'm going to, if I want to throw this person forwards, I'm going to get them moving backwards so that their reaction is going to come forwards, and that'll facilitate the throw for me,

Scott Benner 20:45
okay? Then you take their motion, their their forward motion, and you throw them with it. Yeah, got it, okay, and then, and a lot of it's about that, right? Like, technique, like responding properly, and then for you, being fast. Like, is that the idea that you so you're quicker, but some of those longer girls, maybe like, are structurally more I don't know what the word is capable. Is that, right?

Elizabeth 21:11
Yeah, yeah, I would say that I definitely rely a lot on the speed and the the mechanics of the technique that I like, which is called a drop technique. So it's actually one where I drop to my knees and then I continue to roll, which loads the person onto my back and turns them onto their own back.

Scott Benner 21:28
Is this an Olympic sport?

Elizabeth 21:32
It is actually,

Scott Benner 21:33
do you have eyes on that? Or is that not the level you're at? For

Elizabeth 21:37
me, I have not been training to the level where I would go to the Olympics. However, we did just send multiple Canadian athletes, including a girl in the under 57 category, to the Olympics. Oh, cool. From your group. No, not from our group, but she is a Canadian athlete who has trained out of Alberta. Am

Scott Benner 21:55
I using the word Dojo incorrectly? If I say, Are you involved in that?

Elizabeth 21:59
No, Dojo is just the name of the space that we use for our training. For our club, actually, we don't have our own facility currently, okay, although we are getting one for the next season, which, yeah, yes, oh, cool. But we actually work out of a local YMCA. So for Judo, you have the Tommy mats. So they're the mats that you do your the sport on. So every class we have Monday, Wednesday, and we have Saturday, we come and we lay down our mats, and then we teach our younger kids classes, which I also help participate in, and then I also do my own classes, which are the late class in the evening, and then we have to put all of our tatami mats away afterwards. Elizabeth, how

Scott Benner 22:37
do you stop yourself from getting what they call cauliflower ear?

Elizabeth 22:40
So I have yet to have an experience with cauliflower ear. Knock on wood. I'm very lucky for that, but I have had a couple of friends in my sport who have had cauliflower ear. The solution to it is simply getting it drained repeatedly. And while it's a very painful process, or so I hear, it prevents your ear from getting that massive swelling around it,

Scott Benner 23:01
wow, that's just from the rubbing and the grinding on the ear. Is that, right? Is that also, like bacteria from the mat? Or no, yeah, is it, I don't know. Isn't that funny? That's, that's what I want to know about. How does that happen? Because it's, it's frightening when people have it. You know what? I mean? Like, visually, you're like, wow, that's feels crazy, but and I just, I'm thinking of you like you just, you're so young, you know what I mean? And I know you don't think of yourself that way, but I'm like, Oh, my God, I don't want to have a big thing on her ear. Do you roll with men and women, or do women stay with women? Men, with men.

Elizabeth 23:36
So in competition, it is just male, just female. You're competing against a girl if you're a girl, and you're competing against a guy if you're a guy. But in the club, it is beneficial to work with everyone on your competitive team, and it helps you, and it helps them, and it creates better bonds between you and your teammates. So I tend to roll with pretty much anyone on the meds, even the guys who are a lot bigger or the guys who are a lot smaller, just everyone is kind of included. But it is important that me, as an athlete and as someone who has technique and skill, but also some strengths that I modify the way that I fight different types of people. So if I'm fighting a younger kid or someone who's a little bit smaller than me, I'm not just going to out muscle them, out strength them. I'm going to use a little bit more technique try and work with something I don't usually do, but if I'm fighting someone who's bigger and a lot better than me, fingers crossed that they're toning down their strength a little bit, and I'll be working on my specific techniques for someone who is bigger, who is taller than me. Gotcha,

Scott Benner 24:37
do you see Judo as a strictly athletic endeavor, or do you think of it as therapeutic as well?

Elizabeth 24:44
I would say, I would definitely say both. There are some days where I'm like, oh my goodness, I gotta go to judo. But every single time that I get on those mats and when I come off afterwards, I feel like a different person. I could be having the worst day in the world if I go to a judo class I come off. Mats, I'm smiling, I'm happy, I'm joking with my friends. It's such a way to get out all of those feelings that you might not be able to express otherwise. And it's it's just so much fun, like it's hard not to be happy. Once you come off the mats after a good day of like a hard sweat and good training,

Scott Benner 25:17
you have a feeling for what it is that the that the activity releases, or what it's, what it's giving you that you didn't have in your day? Is it just the aggression thing,

Elizabeth 25:26
maybe a little bit. But I find just just getting on the mats and, like, not having to, like, talk to someone while I'm just doing a little sparring match, is just kind of the best therapy, because I'm there, I'm in the zone. It's like, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna throw. And then when it works out, it's like, yes, like, I got this. We're doing this. And it's so therapeutic,

Scott Benner 25:50
yeah, so you feel accomplished, too, if you can, like, hold, grip, hold, throw, and you're like, Wow, I did it. Like, I like, I matched their emotion. I I got my technique ahead of theirs, and I kind of won this moment. Definitely, definitely feels okay. That's really interesting. Okay. Now, what about with diabetes? Like, when you first started judo, you didn't have it. Did you notice changes? Like, is it more anaerobic or aerobic of an exercise? Because it feels like it's both. It

Elizabeth 26:18
definitely is both. I found with diabetes, I had to actually tone back quite a bit on the like, the amount of utero that I was doing, simply because I wasn't quite sure how my own body worked in coordination with it. So I had to figure out, like, Okay, how do I do this? How do I manage my diabetes when I don't have insulin running, or this or that?

Scott Benner 26:40
So it took you months, years to figure out how to manage insulin with judo. Or do you still struggle with it? Or is it a thing you understand now?

Elizabeth 26:49
I would say that I understand it pretty well right now, and I'm fairly lucky. I have parents who work in the medical field, so they're really, really helpful, especially in competition. I feel like I have a good handle on what I need to do is sometimes, sometimes it's a little bit hard to do it, or it's like, oh no. There's a moment where, like, I didn't give a Bolus or this, and it's like, I'm still working at perfecting it, but I understand my body a lot better.

Scott Benner 27:15
Yeah, your parents are in the medical field. Yeah. Is it like, can you be in specific, but tell me about like, kind of what they

Elizabeth 27:23
do? Uh, yeah. So my my stepdad, he works, is as a trauma doctor at the hospital here, and then my mom is, she works in orthopedics, so it's like casting and like fixing bones and all that cool stuff.

Scott Benner 27:36
Oh, wow. Oh, is that how they met? Did they meet at the hospital? I

Elizabeth 27:40
think they met at a work related party, but I'm not entirely sure. I'd have to brush up on that.

Scott Benner 27:47
Don't worry. It's okay. Do you meet people to date at judo? Like, new people? I mean, like, you know, have you ever, like, met somebody you've been interested in, like, romantically at judo? Or do those things not mix? I

Elizabeth 28:00
know people who have, but I try to avoid any kind of romantic feelings with anyone on my club. I definitely picture them more as, like, my brothers and my sisters and like those people that, like, I'm really, really close with and I have, like, share a really strong bond of friendship and, like, almost like sibling rivalry with, yeah, I gotcha, but I don't think I could ever see myself romantically interested in anyone at my club specifically interesting.

Scott Benner 28:25
Can I ask, why is it just because you're so close to them, or is it because they're involved in judo? I

Elizabeth 28:30
would say a combination of the two. I'm really close with them, so I don't think I could see myself in a romantic relationship with any of them as well as we're all focused on doing better and improving in judo. Plus a lot of them have significant others outside of judo, so I just tend to stay away from it. I was just

Scott Benner 28:45
wondering if it's a thing you didn't want to mix because of the focus of judo and, like, if you now you're suddenly romantic with somebody, if that maybe ruins what that thing is like, it's because it seems like it's such a specific thing, I don't know. Like, I was just wondering, okay, you wear a pump, or do you inject?

Elizabeth 29:03
So I have a T slim. I am a pump certified, yay,

Scott Benner 29:08
using control. IQ, yes, I do with Dexcom. G6 Yeah. G6 okay. How long have you been wearing that?

Elizabeth 29:16
So I've had the Dexcom, I want to say, like, almost three years now, and the pump just under that, so, like two ish, so

Scott Benner 29:26
you take it off, obviously, to compete. Yes, yeah.

Elizabeth 29:31
So I just for the Tesla. I'm lucky. It's just you can detach it from the pump site, but my CGM stays in. So I actually use something called a co band, or like, vet wrap, and it's basically, it's almost like a tensor bandage that I just wrap around wherever my CGM and my pump side are, and it helps us so they don't get ripped out while I'm competing. Kind

Scott Benner 29:51
of makes it feel like it's part of you, so it can't get pulled on. Yeah, and then do you so you're disconnecting. So do you have the ball? Let's be for you disconnect. I'm trying to decide if the anaerobic, anaerobic things cancel each other out, or if you get high from muscleing or low from movement while you're while you're doing this.

Elizabeth 30:14
So that's actually the fun part. It can go in any which way. There's were

Scott Benner 30:19
you saying fun sarcastically. Elizabeth, yes, okay, yes, very much. All right,

Elizabeth 30:26
but I actually so for competitions, we do actually bullish thing between my matches. So on a good day, I'll have between like four and six matches maybe. So there can be between like five to 10 minutes, or like, three hours between those matches. It kind of depends on the bracket and what happens in the matches, but I always I'm giving small, like units between like one and three every hour or so to keep myself level. But I'm also pairing that with drinking, like my Powerade and having, like, some protein while I'm waiting for my fights, that'll that helps me sustain longer, but the insulin keeps me from going too high.

Scott Benner 31:11
Okay, I see, so see, it's a pretty involved thing for you. So how long does like it the match you said maybe is like four minutes, but then they're sitting around, then you roll again. Or do you roll once a day? Or how does that work?

Elizabeth 31:24
So that depends on how many people you have in your category. For me, I don't usually have more than, like six, so I'll have usually, like five fights in a

Scott Benner 31:33
day. Okay, spread out over how much time I'm sorry, five fights over, that depends.

Elizabeth 31:37
So if I win and I win and I win and I continue to just win, the matches will be fairly close together, but if I win and then I lose one, then I drop down to the rep a charge, which is the bronze medal bracket, and then I have to wait quite a while before those matches actually start. So it can be between like an hour, or it can be between like three hours. You

Scott Benner 31:59
have, like, a little kitchen worth of supplies with you when you go every time. Oh, yeah.

Elizabeth 32:04
Sometimes. I also have younger siblings, right? So we have lots of snacks and stuff for them. Oh, they

Scott Benner 32:09
also are into judo. Yep, my whole family is actually, oh, really, no kidding. You go over there, like, like, The Incredibles, but for Judo, yeah, yeah, I have a question that I feel like you're going to answer in an unsatisfying way, but why are you so mature and smart? Well,

Elizabeth 32:27
I mean, I try to be I'm also the oldest of four kids, so I help look after them as much as I can, and then, like diabetes, right? So I have to be a little bit more mature and able to be able to handle that by myself.

Scott Benner 32:42
So yeah, but that's not, that's not a real answer. Hold on a second. Like, are your are your parents? Like, are they, like, super special, calm people. Were you raised really? Well? Are you making up for something like, what's like? You're uncommonly together for your age. Do you know that about your skin? Well, you're very welcome. But do you know that about yourself?

Elizabeth 33:04
I mean, I've had some people tell me that I'm quite mature for my age. And I'm like, Oh, thank you. I tried always been like that. I definitely was not when I was young. I was I was a little rascal. I was a wild child, actually. So

Scott Benner 33:17
you just said rascal. I feel like we're 75 together. You're fantastic. You're like dating. It'll ruin judo. No. Hold on. You're really interesting to hear because so here, here begs the question, right? When you're diagnosed with type one, do your parents help you with it a lot, or do they just give it to you? Is it a mix.

Elizabeth 33:40
So in the beginning, they helped me a lot, specifically my mom. She she was like, right there. She was like, she held my hand through a lot of the things where I just didn't understand at the time. But over the past couple years, they've given me a lot more, like control with it, and now I primarily do most of the things, although I'm grateful because at competition, my parents are there to help me out when I'm like, running around like a headless chick, and I'm like, Where's where's my belt? Where's this? And my mom was like, take some insulin. And I'm like, it's, it's a really nice reminder when she's there.

Scott Benner 34:13
Nice. Okay, so it started off them, and it transferred to you slowly, and over the last couple of years it's been mostly you, but they still help.

Speaker 1 34:21
Yes, yeah, all right,

Scott Benner 34:24
it's not answering my question, though. I'm trying to figure out, why are you good in school? You get, like, really good grades.

Elizabeth 34:31
I mean, I'm not exceptional. I'm not like a 90s student, but I'm like a fair 80s average kind of person, okay,

Scott Benner 34:38
above average grades, not fantastic. I would say that's just average, but Okay, does it come to you easily, or do you have to work to get to where you're at with your grades? School

Elizabeth 34:50
is not my forte. Test taking is not where it's at. I definitely have to work hard and study lots like all the time to get the kind of grades that I want. I. Even then it's still, it's still really hard. What

Scott Benner 35:01
do you want to do after school? Like the are you going to go to what they call University?

Elizabeth 35:05
Yes, actually, I have been accepted to the University of Alberta in a psychology major. Oh, look

Scott Benner 35:11
at you. I was going to say, what do you want to go for? But there you've answered the question, something you've always been interested

Elizabeth 35:17
in, not originally, originally. I was like, I want to be a doctor, like my parents, like, I'm going to be a doctor. And then, kind of, as I kept growing up, I was like, I don't know what kind of doctor I want to be, maybe this kind, maybe this kind. And then I got diabetes, and I was like, I'm going to be an endocrinologist. Like, Heck, yeah, I am. And then slowly, for sure, I was like, hmm, Kinesiology is cool. Maybe physiotherapy. And then I was like, You know what? No psychology.

Scott Benner 35:43
You're just bouncing around. You don't, you don't, you know, I have to tell you, I just this summer, I've really come to think, like, just how ridiculous it is that we ask 17 year old kids to pick a thing that they're going to do for the rest of their life. It just doesn't, I mean, I understand why you got to get going. You know what I mean? Like, I'm with all that. It's just such an odd thing. Like, how are you supposed to know, you know what I mean,

Elizabeth 36:09
preaching to the choir, man, yeah.

Scott Benner 36:11
And also, you're somehow, like a little mix of a hippie and an old lady at the same time. How did that happen? You know what I'm saying, don't you?

Unknown Speaker 36:23
Yeah, yeah.

Scott Benner 36:25
Does it freak you out when a person who doesn't know you can talk to you for half an hour and start like thinking about who you are?

Elizabeth 36:32
No, no. I mean, I'm not a very like I mean, I would say I'm a little bit introverted when I used to meet most people, but I'm a fairly chatty kind of outgoing person in general. So it is what it is, yeah?

Scott Benner 36:44
But you, you have, like, a, I don't know your vibe is interesting. It's like, upbeat, but old soul, but not crunchy. Does that all make sense? Yeah? Yeah.

Elizabeth 36:57
I'll take the compliment. I'll take

Scott Benner 36:58
it. Listen. Whoever you are is a compliment, as far as I'm concerned, but it's just your mixture is interesting. That's all. What do you like to do, besides judo, so I'm big

Elizabeth 37:08
into, actually, just like physical activity in general. I love, like, mountain biking. I used to be a dancer, so I love dance, just being outside, pretty much just kind of my vibe. But I also do love art, um, I love drawing kind of, kind of anything like that. Okay,

Scott Benner 37:23
so solitary. You like more solitary endeavors.

Elizabeth 37:27
On occasion, I like doing these things, like, with people, like, I'll go and I'll bike with some friends or with my parents, or, like, we'll go on a bike ride with my dog, because I have a lovely little Australian Shepherd.

Scott Benner 37:39
It's interesting though, like, because I guess maybe a lot of stuff is like that. I was gonna say, like, you're doing group activities, but they're singularly focused. Once you're involved in them, you could kind of say that about judo too, honestly, that's what I'm saying. But I think everything's kind of like that. Though, if you stop and really think about it, like, how many things are you actually holding hands with somebody while you're doing? You know what? I mean?

Elizabeth 37:59
Sure true. Maybe, I

Scott Benner 38:00
think I might have just out thought myself in a circle, and then when I got to the end, I was like, oh, dummy, that's how that works. Do your siblings, your younger siblings, know anything about the diabetes?

Elizabeth 38:10
So I have three younger brothers, two of which are, like, fairly young. One of them just turns five this August. The other one is seven. Oh, so, oh, oh,

Scott Benner 38:20
that's right, your parents are, it's a second marriage for your mom, right? Yeah,

Elizabeth 38:24
yeah. Those are my half brothers, yeah. And then I have my other brother who actually lives with his biological father, and he just turned 16. He turned 15. You have

Scott Benner 38:34
a half brother that lives with his biological father, but that's also your biological father.

Elizabeth 38:38
Not quite. Hold on, my mom give birth to me and my brother? Yeah, and he is 15. He lives with our bio dad, okay, but I live with my mom and my step dad and my two half brothers. I

Scott Benner 38:49
got it, okay, okay. I thought there was, like, I misunderstood for a second. Don't worry about okay, so they're not totally they're they're younger, really, is the answer. What's the kids you live

Elizabeth 39:00
with? They're goofballs. And sometimes when I'm sitting there and I'm like, Guys, just like, leave me alone. Leave me alone, they'll be gone. They'll come over and be like, Lizzy, what are your blood sugars? You're being grumpy. I'm like, Guys, yeah, there's, there's silly little goofballs. It's

Scott Benner 39:15
nice. Wait till they get bigger, they'll be silly big goofballs. Oh, definitely. So okay, so after this university psychology, but you're gonna keep I mean, Judo stays in your life for

Elizabeth 39:28
sure. Yeah, definitely, definitely okay.

Scott Benner 39:31
Is it a thing that you recognize that one day, physically, you won't be able to do or do you think you just do it with a little less gusto as you get older so you can continue?

Elizabeth 39:40
I think anything is possible. My stepdad is over 40, and he still competes interprovincially and wins golds and competes internationally and wins medals. So I think I can go for as long as possible, do this

Scott Benner 39:54
every weekend, like every weekend, you get up on Saturday morning and go off to a to an event. So

Elizabeth 39:59
we. Of our trainings, they're weekly. We have three times a week, but our competition season, well, most of our competition season just actually finished after we had nationals, which was about two weeks ago. A little more than that, maybe three. But we probably have about a competition, maybe two a month. And we also have mandatory monthly trainings with the provincial coach.

Scott Benner 40:23
How does this translate into real life? Like, let's say you're, you're out walking, and a lumberjack that smells like maple syrup comes up behind you and tries to take your purse, right? Like, how do you how do you? Like, how do you fight him off with what you know from judo? So

Elizabeth 40:43
again, it's like Judo is the use of your own body mechanics and then manipulating the body mechanics of your opponent, right? So if he's going to come and he's going to reach for my purse, I'm simply just going to grab his wrist and I'm going to turn and throw him, because he's going to be going forwards towards me. So I'm just continuing his momentum, this lovely lumberjack momentum. Yeah, I'm barely doing anything. Honestly, I'm just influencing this momentum. Just a temp, okay,

Scott Benner 41:07
so he comes up to you. He's like, Oh, hey, I'm gonna take your purse a and buy beer. And then you're like, you wait for him to come at you, or you, oh, yeah, well, you would run first, right? Like, you'd be like, I could probably outrun this like, like, like, because he's got syrup on his hands, he'll probably slip and so like, like, but you would, but if you got stuck, you wouldn't attack, you'd wait for the attack. Is that correct? That

Elizabeth 41:30
depends really, if he's coming at me and his if he's coming at me first, and I'm like, well, he's coming at me, time to react to his acting. But if he's there and he's like, oh, like, I'm gonna take your purse, but he's just, like, standing there, and there's not really anything happened, I'm not gonna go for an outright fight. But again, if he, if he comes at me, like he's going to do something, I'm going to take the first move in terms of defending myself.

Scott Benner 41:54
And is this so all in is this also just so ingrained in who you are that even if they took you by surprise, you would react, like, reasonably appropriately.

Elizabeth 42:05
I mean, I would hope so, but like a competition. But

Scott Benner 42:09
what happens, like in your house, if somebody comes around the corner and they're like, boo, are you just like, you already have a hold of them and you're moving them? Do you know what I mean? Or like, how quickly does your body go to that like, that memory, that muscle memory.

Elizabeth 42:22
Have you ever heard the quote, fight or flight, that I'm a flightless bird?

Scott Benner 42:26
Okay, so you're right into it. That's kind of

Elizabeth 42:29
the quote that I try to live by.

Scott Benner 42:31
If you didn't have judo, what do you think you would do with all this energy? Because it feels to me like you have extra energy and that, like, expelling just some aggression and tactile or tactical, like, ideas, seems like it's really good for you. Like, where do you think it would go, though, without this?

Elizabeth 42:50
Honestly, I'm, I'm not too sure. I think Judo has really gave me a level head in terms of just, like, being like a good person. Because, like, I think with more free time, there would have been more chance for me to get into trouble, do things I'm not supposed to, you know, like, go drinking, go partying, which is why I appreciate you, though, because it, like, it kept that level head. It kept me focused on a goal. My goal was winning nationals, and it and I wanted, like, constant improvement. Do

Scott Benner 43:19
you think that that's who you are, though? Do you think like, if, if, somehow, if this man doesn't come into your life and say, Hey, you guys should try judo? Do you think you're out there just like drunk? Elizabeth,

Elizabeth 43:31
I'd like to say that. No, I don't think that's me, but I honestly have no idea where my life would have taken me without something as as moral compass, like as judo. Interesting? Are you religious? No, not really.

Scott Benner 43:46
Is this your religion?

Elizabeth 43:48
I would say Judo is my religion. I would say that, okay,

Scott Benner 43:52
I'm interested because I don't drink as an example. But I think if you I don't, I don't imagine, I can't imagine, what would move me in that direction, like even if my life got bad, I don't think that that's a direction I would go into, because I wonder if you're not giving yourself enough credit for who you are, is what I was wondering,

Elizabeth 44:12
potentially. But I think without my step dad being in my life as well, it would have changed me a lot as a person. Sure, I really look up to him, and I really aspire to be a person as awesome and cool and sophisticated as he is. Wow, so not even just Judo itself, but him not being in my life definitely would have made me a different person.

Scott Benner 44:32
So I don't want to I don't want to discount that. I just want to say that I think it would be okay to give yourself some like credit, like that. You wouldn't be like a person out there, like, just a ne'er do well, like, you know, skulking around in the shadows, breaking car windows and stuff like that. I just don't, doesn't sound to me like that's who you would be. What about him specifically? Are you so reverent about like, what is he? How does he appear to you? If you had to describe him to me? Would you say about him?

Elizabeth 45:00
Well, first and foremost, he is an amazing like judoka. He is incredible at the sport that he does. He holds, like, international titles and like several competitions, and it's like, Whoa. That is awesome. He is, like, a well established man who, like, works in the medical field, and he's good at his job, and he's just like a goofy, outgoing guy, but he also can be like stoic and like reserved, and he's just got so many different contrasts and different angles to him that are so unique and so interesting, and it makes him just a really awesome person as well. He really stepped up as a father figure in my life for a number of my elementary school kind of years. So I really, I really look up to him like that.

Scott Benner 45:45
Yeah, no, I imagine that's lovely. Your mom. She's just okay. I

Elizabeth 45:49
love my mom. I have I share such a special bond with my mom. She is my number one fan. She is my go to girl. She's not just my mom, she's also like my best friend. And it's like the best relationship I could have asked for. Wow,

Scott Benner 46:02
what's the worst thing you've ever thought in your head about another person?

Elizabeth 46:06
There was a girl I was competing against, and I I had won against her several a year before, but in the process, I had accidentally broke her collar bone with a throw, and when she came back the next year. She beat me at the same tournament, and then she slandered me all over social media. I was a little bit sour above that.

Scott Benner 46:27
Yeah, sour. You were just a bit sour. Were you? Yeah, so, so you humiliated her. She came back with an eye on getting even she does that, but then she has to go and do something online too.

Elizabeth 46:43
Yeah, that is disappointing a little bit. It's okay. My, my sweet moment of revenge was I beat her at nationals to win the gold.

Scott Benner 46:54
Oh, look at you. You got her back eventually, eventually, it took a little while I got there. Did you whisper anything in her ear while you were, like, choking her out or whatever you were doing there,

Elizabeth 47:03
no no that the drill maps, the tatamis where you are competing is almost as is a sacred place. Oh, you can't there was no disrespect there. You can't

Scott Benner 47:14
whisper. I wouldn't have put that on Instagram if I was you while you were, like, making her rethink her life. No,

Elizabeth 47:20
no, okay, in a match. One, you can't talk because you'll get in trouble. And two, it is, it is incredibly difficult for a person to come out and compete in front of a huge stadium for like a like a national title, so I do my best, even if I despise someone I'm fighting with every fiber of my being, I'm never going to disrespect them in a tournament match. I will never, even though

Scott Benner 47:49
go I'm sorry, even though she was disrespectful to you, you wouldn't consider being a being disrespectful back to her. Just you'll just try to beat her. And if you can good, and if not, then, okay.

Elizabeth 47:59
Yeah, exactly. Wow.

Scott Benner 48:03
Geez. Are, like, are people in your town, like, lining up trying to get you to marry their son? No, no, no, they're missing out. I would, I would definitely, if I had a 17 year old son, I'd be definitely pushing him towards you right now. I'd be like, Elizabeth, here, meet my kid. No, yeah, you're, you're, you're special. I would actually, if anything horrible happens to your parents, I might adopt you. So let me know if you need anything. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 48:27
thank you. No, you'd

Scott Benner 48:29
be good respect. I you listen. You'd make me look good. That's what I'm thinking. Get it? I mean, they'd be like, Oh my god, Elizabeth, right. I'm like, Hey, I know I taught her a lot. That's what I would say. Like, behind your back. I take a lot of credit for you. Well, listen, as a person who slander is a tough word, because it because I don't know if I would say that, but I've been slandered before. It's very it's infuriating, like it really is, because it goes beyond somebody's opinion, like, I don't mind if people don't like me. I fully almost expect that I don't care if people don't like me, and they tell their people they don't like me, that even makes sense to me, but making something up because it's hurtful and because you think it will damage somebody or make you feel better, or whatever. Like, I have a real difficult time with that, and I never, even though I have the ability to and a platform to do it on, I don't strike back in a way that would damage somebody, and I could, and I've been brought to the brink of it a couple of times, but I've never actually done it. So I applaud you, because it's difficult, and I'm an adult, and I still sat down and wrote something out just to delete it the other day because somebody in a public setting lied about me in front of a bunch of other people, and I could have and I know a thing about them that they did directly, that I was aware of this part. Person's actions are just so despicable, and they try so hard not to to look they try very hard to look like that's not who they can be. And I don't know them well enough to tell you that's who they are every second of the day, but I've seen them be like that a number of times I have like and I could have outed them, and it would have been really damaging to them, and I didn't do it, but it's the closest I've ever come to doing it. So I know how difficult it is to, like, pull yourself back, and you seem very much more mature than I am actually with your answer. But anyway, I want to give you a lot of credit for that, because it would be easy to strike back, you know,

Elizabeth 50:39
thank you.

Scott Benner 50:40
Thank you, of course, good for you. I don't understand still, you're an alien, right? You were dropped here. You're watching us from Mars or something, and you're trying to, like, blend in. What's going on exactly? I still don't buy this. Why you're so nice. You don't do anything terrible. You ever kick a dog? No, no, what? No,

Elizabeth 50:57
I have a dog. I love dogs.

Scott Benner 51:01
Okay? I didn't think so. You ever stick gum under a desk? No, you would never do that. Would you? No, do you take your shoes off when you come into somebody else's house? Yes, get the out of here, really? Oh, my God. Do

Elizabeth 51:15
you curse on occasion?

Scott Benner 51:17
What's your favorite curse word? Say it now, unburden yourself. It'll get believed. So whatever you say, no one's gonna know what you

Speaker 1 51:24
said. I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, my God.

Scott Benner 51:34
Seriously, like, what's you do? You have a go. What are you? You're walking through. Here you go. You're walking through the room, you don't have any shoes on, and you kick something and you yell, is it? No,

Elizabeth 51:49
damn. You're gonna laugh at me for this one. I would I would stub my toe, and I would say, Mother of all, that is holy.

Scott Benner 51:57
Is that a curse? No, it's just what I would say. But you're also not religious, no, but you would never say Jesus Christ if something bad happened. Oh, no, I definitely say that one. That one you say, okay, all right. Have you ever said Christ on a cracker? I love that one.

Unknown Speaker 52:16
I'm sorry.

Scott Benner 52:17
What you've never heard that?

Elizabeth 52:19
No, it's now in my arsenal. Now, wait, wait,

Scott Benner 52:22
wait, hold on a second. We have a question to be I don't know where that came from. Let's find the etymology of Hold on a second. What is the etymology

Unknown Speaker 52:34
of Christ on a cracker?

Scott Benner 52:39
The phrase Christ on a cracker, is an exclamation used to express surprise, disbelief, frustration, or exasperation, is considered a euphemism to avoid using more explicit or blasphemous language, substituting a mild or less offensive expression while still conveying strong emotions. Christ refers, of course, to Jesus. Christ, central to Christianity, etc. On a cracker, this part of the phrase adds a touch of absurdity and humor, making the expression less offensive than outright blasphemy. It also suddenly refers a Christian practice of communion. That's what I thought, too, where bread symbolizes the body of Christ, overall. Christ on a cracker serves as a colorful and emphatic way to express strong reaction. Please go to that one the next time you stub your toe, okay, I will. And if people say, What did you just say, Go. I learned that on a podcast. I would please tell people that was, by the way, our chat GPT Overlord, who gave us that breakdown of the etymology of Christ on the cracker. Lovely, yeah. Also, I was typing and not looking completely missed on Etymology and chat, G, P, T, still knew what I was asking, so be aware it's coming for you and me. So psychology, you find people interesting. Why they do things interesting? You want to help them feel better. What's the also? I don't think this is what you're gonna end up doing. I think you're gonna change like, 17 more times, but what interests you about it?

Elizabeth 54:03
So actually, we had a Japanese exchange student come and stay with us for a little while. He also did judo, so he was staying with us and training with us at our club, and he was actually doing his studies in sports psychology, and I found it really interesting. And I was like, hmm, that seems like a really cool profession. And then another of the gentleman at our club, he also him and his wife. I'm good friends with his kid, him and his wife. They're both sports psychologists. I was like, I was talking to him about it. He was like, yeah, like, it's really cool. Like, this the kind of stuff you do. I was like, but I also, I have, I have a soft spot for kids, since my brothers are awesome sauce, but I definitely would go into either sports psychology or child psychology. Elizabeth, every

Scott Benner 54:48
time you talk, I just assume you're not a real person. You're so kind and lovely, and everything you say, I'm like, oh my god, this is amazing.

Unknown Speaker 54:57
Thank you. Seriously,

Scott Benner 54:58
you. I'm like, What the hell is happening? All right? Well, terrific. Let's make sure. Did let's go back and make sure. Did we talk about or not talk about anything that you wanted to Did I miss anything? That's my first question, Not particularly, no. Did you cover things that you were hoping to talk about? The other

Elizabeth 55:19
thing we didn't really talk about was there's something I do called intermittent fasting.

Scott Benner 55:24
Oh, I would like to talk about that. I've done that in the past. Go ahead, tell me, yeah.

Elizabeth 55:29
So the diabetes clinic actually does not like it when I do intermittent fasting, but so the way that they like to or how I've perceived the way that they like to help manage, like a diabetic blood sugar, is the constant use of like food and like sustenance, because, like with food, you can give more insulin and so on so forth. But I found that an important aspect of participating in judo, like to maintain weight and just increase my overall performance, has to do with the intermittent fasting on non tournament days, I try to refrain from eating for around 16 hours each day, sometimes 18. This gives me a chance to focus on like my background and my basal insulin and generally keeps my blood sugars at like a more steady rate on the days where I don't fast, which is usually just like my competition days, or the days where I have, like, like those post tournament training camps, I usually start the day off with some protein and, like, liquids, and I stay light on the heavy carbs, because those are what spike my blood sugar really bad, and then it just kind of stays up for when I'm doing judo for the rest of the day. Instead, I eat those heavier carbs later at night to help rebuild any muscles that I might have broken down a bit during the day, and those carbs actually helped me maintain my blood sugar better overnight on competition days as well. Why would your doctors have a problem with that? They just don't like the fact that I'm only eating about two meals a day. What's

Scott Benner 56:59
your a 1c

Elizabeth 56:59
my a 1c right now is, I think it's around seven.

Scott Benner 57:04
And what's your variability like? Do you bounce? Do you get over 180 very often? Well, no, hold on a second. You're in Canada. Sorry about that. Give me a second. Juicebox podcast, calm a 1c and blood glucose calculator. Type in. You got to get a plug in once in a while. You know what I mean, put in 180 so 10, right? You get above 10 very often.

Elizabeth 57:26
Sometimes I find that when I'm fasting, I actually don't get above 10 very often. I honestly stay lower about where, on a good day, when I wake up in the morning and my blood sugars are around six, I tend to hover between like six and like four

Scott Benner 57:41
Okay, so like between 70 and 110 that's really great. So yeah, and you don't have a ton of variability. Do you know what your do? You happen to know what your, oh, God, simple phrase just fell out of my head. A standard deviation is my standard of deviation. Do you know that you have you ever go into your Dexcom clarity app and look at your standard deviation.

Elizabeth 58:03
Yes. I mean, I haven't done it recently, but I have. Usually I stay between about six and, like, eight, nine.

Scott Benner 58:10
Really, I don't know what, why didn't All right, what is,

Unknown Speaker 58:16
I don't understand. Like, do you think

Scott Benner 58:18
it's just one of those situations where that's like, that's just how they do it. They don't know how to support you. Maybe

Elizabeth 58:23
they also told me, like in the past, or whatever. So I've also gone to, like, diabetes camp and stuff like that. Again, they use food to help manage, like, blood sugar. So they recommend eating like breakfast, a breakfast snack, lunch, like an afternoon snack, and then evening snack, and then, like, dinner, and then, like, a bedtime snack.

Scott Benner 58:43
So they're feeding people on such a schedule that they don't have an opportunity to get low. Yeah, yeah,

Elizabeth 58:49
which I struggle with, because in tournaments, like, we have to, like, weigh in for our competition, so we're fighting people roughly our size. Like, that's why I do the intermittent fasting. It helps me maintain, like, a healthy weight and sit at the spot where I want to be at. Yeah, I'll be, Damn It's upsetting,

Scott Benner 59:06
isn't it, that they can't just kind of meet you where you are and see that you're having success and try to support that.

Elizabeth 59:11
I mean, I see, I see why they don't, why they're like, why they recommend that I should be eating more. It works for me, so I'm going to continue to do it? No,

Scott Benner 59:21
you should. Does it make you feel bad? That's my worry for you. Seems so goddamn nice. Like, do you like? Do you sit there and feel badly about what you're doing? Not at all good. Yeah, you got a spine for that stuff. Seriously, you you have a you have a resilience that you said you used to work grit earlier, if you knew that or not, because I was busy going, I don't know why a 17 year old knows the word grit, but, but do you feel like is that A is that a central part of your personality, like that resilience?

Elizabeth 59:50
I would say I think so. Like being a diabetic and someone who does judo and like a female and someone who's like, had like a. Rough childhood, or whatever you want to call it like I think, I think resilience is a pretty good way to I mean, I'm still here, right? So

Scott Benner 1:00:07
tell me how your childhood was rough.

Elizabeth 1:00:09
My parents divorced when I was about two and a half after they had my my brother, so I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the houses, and there was some conflict there, as well as some like Anim. I don't want to say animosity, because that's the strong word, but there was definitely some conflict between the houses. So when my mom started dating and when she got married again, my dad was mad and this and that, and it was like a constant band here between the two households. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:00:35
that makes sense. Okay, so the divorce is where you feel like you had your first opportunity, where you kind of could have gone backwards a little bit like something could have happened to you, but you didn't like you kept going in the direction that you went, and even though you don't have, like, a firm feeling for where you want to go in life after this, which we both agree, is not something you should probably even know when you're 17. But does that feel like an unknown to you? Like I would say, Yeah, and you deal with it by knowing what it's going to be okay.

Elizabeth 1:01:09
I think I deal with it knowing that even if I don't know where I'm going right now, like my this is going to sound corny, but the adventure towards where I'm gonna end up is one of the best things, right?

Scott Benner 1:01:25
It doesn't sound corny. It sounds like you're 46 and you're fan and you've been through a little bit of but you really understand life.

Elizabeth 1:01:35
I try. Has

Scott Benner 1:01:36
anything really horrifying ever happened in your life? Have you ever lost someone or anything that we would like think of as traumatic as ever happened to you, beyond the divorce.

Elizabeth 1:01:47
Well, I mean, three years ago or three years ago, yeah, this October, my my uncle, so my mom's brother, her little brother, he, he passed away unexpectedly. Obviously, yeah, that that hit my entire family, including me, like a semi truck. Him and my mom were really close. I was also really close with him. We would talk almost all the time. We spent a lot of time together. So that was that was a devastating blow to our entire family.

Scott Benner 1:02:21
How did you guys traverse that?

Elizabeth 1:02:23
It was tough. I think we're still going through a couple of the ripples of the aftermath and stuff like that. I tried my best to stay strong for my mom, because it was, it was her little brother, and I could not imagine losing one of my little brothers, sure. So I just, I tried to stay strong for her and support her any way I knew I could. Definitely went and talked to some people as well. You

Scott Benner 1:02:46
went to therapy, yeah, but then the focus is on being supportive for your mom, like that, doing it for her, like, you'll be strong for someone else. Yes. Do you think she did that for you in return?

Elizabeth 1:02:58
Yeah, probably it's kind of in her nature. Like, that's where I got it from.

Scott Benner 1:03:02
I have a central belief that if people who love each other put each other first, that a lot of things take care of themselves.

Elizabeth 1:03:08
Does that make sense? Yeah, like,

Scott Benner 1:03:11
like, if I'm here for you before me, and you're here for me before you, then we all are supported, and we all feel like we have a like, a greater purpose within our structure, and then it kind of blends out a lot of the problems that come with selfishness and and feeling alone.

Elizabeth 1:03:31
Yeah, that's a really nice way to look at it. Thank

Scott Benner 1:03:33
you. It's a high minded idea I have that I'm not sure that I live up to. Hmm, now that you and I have spoken, do you like me more or less?

Elizabeth 1:03:44
I like you a lot. You're a fun guy. We're

Scott Benner 1:03:48
gonna call this episode Canadian fungus, because I'm a because I'm a fun guy and and you're Canadian, of course, or the Alberta surprise, although that sounds weird, I don't maybe you're you're too young for me to tell you what I thought that sounded like. So maybe we should. We're not gonna say that. Thank God you told me you were 17 before we started, because I knew to like I wasn't sure you come off so adult that I would never in my life have guessed you were 17 if you wouldn't

Elizabeth 1:04:19
have told me. Seriously, that's what I'm aiming for. That's what we're aiming for.

Scott Benner 1:04:22
Why are you aiming for that? Tell me that

Elizabeth 1:04:24
I want to be mature. I want people to go to depend on me and look to me for advice. I want to be there as a good friend and a good person. So I feel like being mature is a good way to start that process. All right. Well, we're

Scott Benner 1:04:36
going to stop the recording here so everyone listening can go off on their day and feel like they are letting someone down compared to you. Seriously, it's not the intent. There are going to be adults all over the world walking around today going, I'm not trying as hard as a 17 year old girl from Alberta. I really got to pull it together. There are also some people who are hoping you end up in prison. I just want you to know that. Oh, okay. They're like, let's see this girl fall in her face. Wait. Oh, something really goes wrong. But yeah, I know I I'm, My money's on you. Elizabeth, thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna put all my loonies, and I think I have four of them here on my desk somewhere. I do, by the way, do I have I somebody sent me Canadian money with the, like, the diabetes, like commemorative stuff on it. Did you do you know that that happened, like, a year or two ago? Yeah? Yeah, I

Elizabeth 1:05:27
have a couple loonies like that. They are loonies because

Scott Benner 1:05:29
I forget if I'm just using the word because I think it's funny, or because they're actually loonies, they might be loonies. They're my desk somewhere. Go through all the Canadian money. Loony, what else is there? Too many quarter I don't know, dime, nickel. Why, in God's name, would they make it Looney and toonie?

Elizabeth 1:05:45
I don't know they're fun. I think it's based off of a Loon, like the bird, but it's like Loon is in one and then toonie, because it's two, $2 Wait,

Scott Benner 1:05:55
is that seriously? A loony is a bird, but a toonie just means two. Loon

Elizabeth 1:06:00
is the type of duck. Go ahead it, yeah, it's just a type of duck. You're like, that shit. Scott, that's

Scott Benner 1:06:07
the whole story. Oh, my God. Have you ever had a Tim bit I have, yeah, and are they any good?

Elizabeth 1:06:19
They taste like bite sized donut pieces. Gotcha. So

Scott Benner 1:06:22
it's nothing special. The chocolate ones, though, are really good. Do you feel controlled by the Queen?

Elizabeth 1:06:29
No, no. We just celebrated our, like, 100 and 52nd year of independence, didn't we? I

Scott Benner 1:06:33
know, but I sometimes I feel like Canadians sometimes have a little bit of that, like, bad feeling left? No,

Elizabeth 1:06:40
I don't think so you

Scott Benner 1:06:41
don't give a crap. Do you? I like you a lot. Sorry. Elizabeth, thanks. All right, I'm gonna go make a baby right now and try to grow it up to be your age, and then I'm gonna send it over to you, because I'd like to see what you could do for it. I also want to point out to my own children that you're not trying hard enough. And Elizabeth is the absolute seriously. You're not even corny.

Elizabeth 1:07:03
You should I'm a little bit corny. No,

Scott Benner 1:07:05
but Elizabeth, you should be, let me be listen. You want to speak. You want to hear some truth right now? Yes, hit me with some truth. You should come off much cornier than you do and you don't, which means it's like it feels authentic. You're freaking me out. I just want you to know that, are your parents freaked out by you? Like, is there a world like, it would have made me feel better if your parents were, like, functioning day drinkers, and they were like, I don't know where she came from, but it feels like they're decent people too, like your staff. You know what I mean? My parents are great. They're great, I know, and I feel like, if they weren't, you'd tell me, right? Yeah, or you talk around it, you would talk around it at least, yeah, like, if your parents weren't really decent people, you wouldn't say that they are would you like, I wouldn't lie about it, right? But you would stay away from it if, seriously, if your mom was a heroin addict, you wouldn't have told me today. Yeah, probably not. I know. I know that about you. I feel like I know you Okay. All right, Elizabeth, you were beyond terrific. I really appreciate you doing this and reaching out. I have to be honest with you, when somebody was like, I want to come on and talk about judo, I was like, oh god, that's gonna be so boring. But okay, and then it wasn't, it was really amazing. So thank you so much. Yeah,

Elizabeth 1:08:22
thank you for having me honestly. This is like a fantastic experience, and I'm really glad that I got this opportunity. Oh,

Scott Benner 1:08:28
I'm glad you feel that way, but, and I believe you, because I know you wouldn't lie to me,

Elizabeth 1:08:36
what was your favorite curse again? What did you say? Mother of all, that is holy.

Scott Benner 1:08:44
But the next time you you stub your toe, you're gonna say, Christ on a cracker. That's right, it's Oh, Christ on a cracker, just like that. And then when people look at you, just go, I learned that on a podcast. Okay, yes, sir. All right, Captain, you're fantastic. Feel free to ask to come back on the show, like when college is over. Okay? Oh, thank you. I would love, I would love to hear how college went for you as a matter of fact. No, don't thank me. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna make a note here for myself. Keep the podcast going for at least five more years so you can hear what Elizabeth did in college. There. You're no no, but I want you to have time to, like, settle in and feel, you know, like reminiscent and everything I am, you're you're now my reason to go on. Thank you very much.

Elizabeth 1:09:30
No, thank you. Seriously,

Scott Benner 1:09:31
hold on one second. You're fantastic.

A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, gvoke glucagon. Find out more about G vo hypo pen at gvoke glucagon.com, forward slash Juicebox. You spell that, G, V, O, k, e, g, l, U, C, A, G, o, n.com, for. Forward slash juice box. The conversation you just enjoyed was brought to you by us. Med, us. Med.com/juice, box. Or call 888-721-1514, get started today and get your supplies from us. Med, one year one CGM, that's today's sponsor, the ever since 365 learn more and get started today at ever since cgm.com/juicebox, and you may be eligible to receive the system for $199 for a full year. There's more details about eligibility at my link, if you or a loved one was just diagnosed with type one diabetes, and you're looking for some fresh perspective the bold beginning series from the Juicebox podcast is a terrific place to start. That series is with myself and Jenny Smith. Jenny is a CD CES, a registered dietitian and a type one for over 35 years, and in the bowl beginning series, Jenny and I are going to answer the questions that most people have after a type one diabetes diagnosis. The series begins at episode 698, in your podcast player, or you can go to Juicebox podcast.com and click on bold beginnings in the menu. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app like Spotify or Apple podcasts. Please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple podcast and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend, and if you leave a five star review, ooh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com, you.