#199 Anthony Anderson Gets Real About Diabetes
Scott Benner
Anthony Anderson Gets Real….
Anthony Anderson (ABC's Black-ish and To Tell The Truth) is on the show to talk about living with type 2 diabetes, his work on Black-ish and much more.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello, everyone, welcome to Episode 199 of the Juicebox Podcast. I'm incredibly excited to tell you that today's guest is the star of blackish on ABC to tell the truth. You've seen him in the transformers. He's voices in your favorite cartoon, the man does everything. I was about to say that in his spare time he came on the podcast to talk about get real about diabetes, but then I realized, I think he was in a car being driven from one thing to another when I spoke to him, so it's possible he doesn't actually have any spare time. Before we get started, I want to thank the generous sponsors of the podcast Dexcom Omni pod and dancing for diabetes, you can go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box, my omnipod.com forward slash juice box or dancing the number four diabetes.com to learn more. There's also links in your show notes at Juicebox podcast.com.
Anthony's on the show today to tell us about his life with type two diabetes and about his project with Novo Nordisk called get real about diabetes. And then I get to ask him some, like, you know, fan questions at the end, and I'll have some bonus audio as well. That'll be at the very, very end. I'll explain later. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, and to always consult a physician before making changes to your health care plan.
Unknown Speaker 1:27
Anthony Hello, Hey, brother, how are you? Good, good.
Scott Benner 1:36
Can I start by just thanking you for doing this? I am. This shows usually focused on type one diabetes, but I think a lot about the need for a type two humanity. And it's just it's really good of you to add your name and your face to this, I really appreciate it.
Anthony Anderson 1:51
Oh, no problem, thank you for doing what you're doing.
Scott Benner 1:55
You know, I see all the time that people need good information. But they also need how, you know, they need to know how to put it into practice. And sometimes even that isn't enough for them until they can really look forward and see someone else accomplishing something that maybe they can't even imagine doing. It's it's an incredible benefit. And and sometimes people can't get started on their own. So it's, you know, especially with type two diabetes, with the stigma that sort of unfairly attached to it. It's, it's, it's really, it's amazing. So thank you very much. Can I start by asking you how long you've had type two? Going on 18
Anthony Anderson 2:29
years now? Did you tackle it immediately? or
Scott Benner 2:33
How did you how did you handle being told that you had diabetes? Was it something you expected to happen? Or did it kind of take you by surprise
Anthony Anderson 2:42
took me by surprise, I wasn't expecting this at all, I handled it as best I could with the with the limited information and knowledge that I had at the time and and then just over the years, getting more knowledgeable about the disease and how it affects the body, how it affects me, it only helped in my I shouldn't say aid but only helped in me dealing with it and maintaining a healthy lifestyle over these past 18 years hasn't always been the best, you know that there have been challenges just like anyone else who has this disease and just dealing with something new and how it affects the body, and lifestyle. But, you know, over the course of time, becoming more knowledgeable about, you know, how it affects me how the food that I eat, how that changes inside my body. And all of that, you know, and that and that that's what led me to this partnership with Novo Nordisk what we're about to say.
Scott Benner 3:42
I was just gonna say it's incredibly interesting. The human spirit is amazing, because even though there was type two in your family, it didn't occur to you like you never thought that it was going to happen to you. I think that's so common for everyone, you know, no one, it would be hard to live your life if you're always expecting something like that to happen.
Anthony Anderson 4:00
And what's crazy about that is yet it's in my family, but I was the first person that was diagnosed with it, you know, we made it which made it interesting, which made it interesting for me, you know, and once I was diagnosed with it, and and realizing what my symptoms were, and are and I realized that growing up, my father had the symptoms of a type two diabetic, but was never diagnosed because he never went to the doctor to to have that checked out. And, and years later, after my diagnosis, he was diagnosed as a type two diabetic. So yeah, it ran in the family, but I was the first one affected with it. That's crazy,
Scott Benner 4:45
did it in hindsight, Do you ever wonder if your father sort of was authentically who he would have been if he knew and was able to keep his blood sugar more under control?
Anthony Anderson 4:57
No, no, I mean, yeah, I do.
Scott Benner 4:59
I do know I do think that and no, I don't believe he was as authentic as he could have been bad. Now knowing how this disease can affect people, especially onset, my daughter has type one diabetes, she's had it since she was two, and she's 14 now. And I think that one of my main, I don't know, responsibilities is to keep her blood sugar in a place where she can be who she's meant to be, so that she doesn't spend time, too low or too high, just sort of, you know, going through life, as a shell of, you know, of who she'd be if she didn't have diabetes, it's just, it's incredibly interesting to me that he lived that long with it and just never know.
Anthony Anderson 5:37
Yeah, you know, and, and now that I know what the symptoms are, and what to look for, in a person that that, you know, has diabetes or whatnot. You know, I look at my father and I always thought he was just fatigued and tired because of the hard work that he did. My father worked in the steel mills of Los Angeles, and I was also a small business owner. And, you know, I thought that was just taking its toll on him, you know, there would be midday nap, you know, there would be fluctuation of weight I was like, you know, if my pops is, has always been a big Manny's and Little Rock, Arkansas six for, you know, 300 plus pounds, and then sometimes he would slim down and sometimes he would, you know, bulk up and, you know, they are okay, but but now I am having having those things happen to me. When when I left. When I just wasn't conscious, I'm not gonna say when I let my sugars go unchecked or the do disease go unchecked when I wasn't conscious of the things that I needed to be doing. You know, of a dammit, this is what my father was going through. And I know how it's made me feel in the past. And I can only imagine, you know, how it was affecting him.
Scott Benner 6:57
Can I ask you, when you really started to pay closer attention to your diet and your exercise and and everything you know, that's important for you, especially having tied to how much of your focus was on getting yourself healthy, and how much of it was about being a better role model maybe for your children. I'm going to handle the ads differently today. Because of the length of this episode, just let me briefly say that the podcast is sponsored by Omni pod makers of the tubeless insulin pump that my daughter has been using for a decade. It is sponsored by dexcom, makers of the G six continuous glucose monitor. And of course, by dancing for diabetes. At the end of this episode, I'm going to give you more information about all of them, links where you can check them out, learn more, maybe get a demo sent to you. How much of your focus was on getting yourself healthy, and how much of it was about being a better role model maybe for your children.
Anthony Anderson 7:53
I was a combination of both, you know, it was a few years into the disease Not that I never took it seriously or, or worked at my health. But as there's comes a time he was like, Okay, you know what, I have to kick this up to another level, I didn't want to, I didn't want to leave my family like my father left cuz I didn't want my children and my wife to have to deal with a premature death of me because of a disease that had gone unchecked. And if there was something that I could do, you know, to make this better, I'm pulling out all the stops. So it was a combination of all that combination of being healthy, not only for myself, but for my family.
Scott Benner 8:45
I think you make an incredibly good point too. I sort of said when you got serious about it, but there's plenty of effort and hard work that goes into diabetes. And when you don't have the right tools it doesn't make it doesn't mean your effort was any less just because you know when you start off and you don't quite understand what you should be doing or you don't understand the the scope of what's happening to you. You're still working hard the anxiety still there the day to day struggle is still there. So wait so I guess it's once you really put all the pieces together. And I guess that kind of leads me to what you're doing with Novo Nordisk you guys have built a community online to help people understand better their disease. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Anthony Anderson 9:27
Yeah, I you know, our Facebook page, get real about diabetes and our website get real about diabetes.com is all about, you know, getting the information, getting the tools that you need as a type two diabetic, you know, to maintain a healthy lifestyle after being diagnosed with this disease. You know, I myself included at one in the beginning I was like, Oh, I'm a diabetic, okay, I just cut out sugar, but it's more than just cutting out sugar. It's much bigger than that. And you know what? We've put together is a website and a page of information that helps someone who's been newly diagnosed with the disease or someone who's just curious about it, because there's a family member, or whatnot. And it's just information that we can all take from this.
Scott Benner 10:17
I will I'll put links in, you know, in all the show notes and everything so people can find it. Can I ask you a quick question I saw one time, Tracy Morgan was on a talk show, he lifted up his shirt to expose his belly as he is prone to do. And he was wearing a dexcom, continuous glucose monitor, do you use any technology to help you understand your type two?
Anthony Anderson 10:39
I do. Um, I use Dexcom years ago, in the beginning, when when my blood sugar was erratic, and all over the place. And eventually, I stopped using it. And I also used a new device, the Libra, I think I'm pronouncing it correctly. Yeah, just because, you know, certain times, sometimes, no matter what you do, no matter how great you think you are at battling this disease, it's sometimes it's bigger than, than what you're doing and who you are. And, you know, my sugars are out of whack. Again, you know, it and it's not due to any fault of my own. I'm a vegan again, you know, I'm in the gym. But my agency levels have been elevated. And, you know, I realized that night that, you know, my, my glucose levels spike, like I could do three miles on my treadmill, and my blood sugar, but my glucose level will be in at six before I go to bed. And I wake up in the morning, and it's dependent, you know, and I'm like, yo, what's going on? And so with, you know, modern technology, we're able to see, when it's spiking the levels, how they're working, and keeping a food journal and diaries, like, Okay, well, this is what I ate, this is what I drank. This is what I did. And this is the effect of that. So look around about answers, like, Yes, I've used x times, I've used the Libra and, and it can only help those of us, you know, monitor, you know, the crazy thing about this disease, we can't see this, we can't see how it's affecting us. You know, I the only way that I know my blood sugar is elevated, if I feel lightheaded or dizzy, or if I'm pricking my finger, so it only helps us use the technology that that's at hand today. To help us with this. To help us on this journey.
Scott Benner 12:47
I don't think many people would imagine that after exercise and and finger stick that told them their blood sugar was 86, around bedtime, that they would go to 200 overnight. That's, that's really, that's great information for everyone to have. Listen, I know I don't have you for very long. So I have to switch gears here for a second and kind of kiss your butt for a second. So in my house, in the fall, we have a ritual here, we yank out the Entertainment Weekly, and we go through the new stuff that's coming on television, and then we load up the TiVo with things we think we're going to be interested in. And a number of years ago, my wife Sarah, we're gonna try blackish. And I was like, What is it and she started telling me about it, my son who back then must have been about 15, he poked his head around the corner, and he goes, that's the guy from kangaroo jack. And, and I was like, he's funny, he's been a bunch of stuff, we started rattling off stuff you'd done. And so we we gave the show a chance since then, never missed an episode. It is. It's not just entertaining. And hilarious, it is definitely one of those shows where we have to pause so one of us can finish laughing so everybody can hear what's going on. But the social, the social aspect of it is, is really spectacular. And and I just wanted to know what that was like for you to be able to to deliver a message about, you know, about the black experience to an audience that probably wouldn't otherwise get to experience it.
Anthony Anderson 14:07
You know, it bears who created our show, who's my partner, we set out, you know, a little over six years ago now, and looked at the landscape of television and talked about what was missing. For us. You know, for DNI what we missed from television, growing up fun shows like All in the Family, you know, the Jeffersons good time, you know, mod Sanford and Son, you know, we missed a show that, that we're entertaining, that also had, you know, social commentary that also dealt with the individual's personal experience and the specificity in which they talked about those subject matters and how it affected them. And because of that specificity in how we were made aware of it and how it affected And, you know, we started talking about our family. And, you know, the stories that we wanted to tell in the same vein as the story that Norman Lear told with all of those shows. And, and that's how blackish was born. It's not like we feel a responsibility to talk about those things, to the masses, but we feel a responsibility to ourselves, to address certain things that are affecting us and our community, and deal with it in a humorous way. And, you know, we do it through laughter, because then we can bring everyone to the table. And once we start laughing at ourselves, and with ourselves, you know, we can infuse the message and have a dialogue, to see what changes we can make, if there needs to be change made.
Scott Benner 15:53
I'd like to share with you an impact that had on me, so my son, who's now a freshman in college, when he was coming into middle school, so I'm guessing around seventh grade, he came home one day and told us about the new people he was meeting, he made a new friend. And one of the friends he made is now a lifelong friend, and our families are close and everything. And that boy happened to be probably the one blackface in a in a fairly, you know, white neighborhood. We were recently at his graduation party, and I was with his family, his grandmother came over to me and she started explaining to me, he, she was thanking me, and I didn't quite understand why Anthony, she's like, you know, it's just, it was so great of your son to, to reach out and be friends back then when you know, when my grandson got to the school, and she kept going on and on. And it took me a moment to figure out that what she meant was that her entire family was incredibly worried that that boy would go to that school, and people would ignore him or shun him or treat him poorly. And that my son's friendship was a signal to the rest of the school that that, you know, it was it was, you know, it's okay to talk to this person. And I have to tell you that never in a million years, that I ever think that in the seven or eight years I've known this boy, he's like a son to me, I love him. And I never thought about that aspect of his life. And I genuinely think that I know, it's gonna maybe sound crazy, but had I not experienced your show. I don't think I would have heard what she was saying to me at that party, I think I would have just heard a thank you like a polite, thank you from somebody. But she meant so she meant so much more than that there was so much more than that, in her words. And, and I just I, I would have missed out on that had I not had your experience filtered through that show. So it really it meant a lot to me personally, and I'm sure it does a lot of other people but but I just I really can't tell you how much I appreciate that.
Anthony Anderson 17:43
Night, it warms my heart to hear you say that. Because those are the stories that are important to us. And that's why we do what we do, you know, to bring in, you know, that understanding, and that compassionate. At the end of the day. We're all human. You know, we're all human. We just want to be accepted and want to be loved for who we are. And we all have our own experiences and dealing with that.
Scott Benner 18:14
Yeah, yeah, that that kid is just he's one of my favorite people on the planet. It breaks my heart to think that he ever had that concern in his life. Listen, I know we're coming up on it. So let me just tell you this. Thank you so much for introducing Jennifer Lewis into my life, and Deon Cole, I found his stand up because of blackish. That man is hilarious. And I don't think I ever would have known about him without the show what he does with his eyes just it crumbles me I can't stop laughing. And and my last thing, my daughter's 14, and she made me promise this morning when I dropped her off to tell you that she would be an amazing liar on to tell the truth. And I don't know why I'm supposed to.
Anthony Anderson 18:55
I love it. I love it recruiting the new season. We've been we started the new season. On Sunday. I'm on hiatus from blackish right now. So we're doing the next installment of 13 shows as we speak, and I would love to have that little 14 year old liar on my show. Dude, I
Scott Benner 19:14
can't tell you like I was like, what should I be thinking that my 14 year old feels comfortable not only telling me that she thinks that she'd be a great liar, but that she thinks she could fool a bunch of people. I thought what else has she been? Like fooling me about so
Anthony Anderson 19:25
Exactly. You gotta watch that one. You
Scott Benner 19:27
better watch that one. Seriously. Anthony again, this is really terrific. I can't thank you enough for doing this. I'm gonna let you go. But But, uh, good luck with everything. And seriously, I you went from being the guy in kangaroo jack to Anthony Anderson in our lives. So. So great, great success, and I hope it continues for you.
Anthony Anderson 19:46
Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Please give my love to your son, your daughter, your wife and the rest of the family.
Scott Benner 19:53
Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Anthony Anderson 19:55
YouTube.
Scott Benner 19:57
huge thank you to Anthony for coming on the podcast. To learn more about get real about diabetes, you can go to get real about diabetes.com. They also have an amazing Facebook page. And I'm gonna have links, of course in the show notes of your podcast app, as well as on Juicebox podcast.com. If type two diabetes is in your life, or in the life of a loved one, check out get real about diabetes.com. Okay, so I get done talking to Anthony, and ended up sending him a photograph of Arden, my son Cole and his friend Carney. And an hour or so later, Anthony sends back this video that he made for the kids. And he said, Please share this with your with your children and with your son's friend. So I'm going to play the audio from it. Just here, it's also going to be available on my Facebook page for Juicebox Podcast. So I'm teasing you a little bit to keep you through the ads. And at the end, I'm going to play what I think is a really powerful message from Anthony about getting real about diabetes. Already, you got a couple more minutes, episodes usually an hour long. I mean, at this point, you're thinking this guy better for 40 more minutes for me. Okay, here's how I'm gonna handle this. First, you'll hear the message from Anthony, then the ads, don't worry, there'll be truncated, shorter to understand. And then the audio from the video that Anthony sent to Cole Carney and our same fare. Here we go.
Unknown Speaker 21:23
Let me tell you something you probably already know. You need to get better control. You're not getting enough exercise, you should eat better, your blood sugar is too high. But you already knew that.
Anthony Anderson 21:36
You know how I know.
Unknown Speaker 21:38
I was once you I said right there and had the same exact thoughts as you regarding my type two diabetes.
Anthony Anderson 21:46
I thought I could do it on my own.
Unknown Speaker 21:47
I thought there was some miracle cure. I hope that one day, it was going to just reverse itself. I didn't want to get real.
Anthony Anderson 21:58
But that ain't you.
Unknown Speaker 22:00
You're better than that. Can you look yourself in the eye and say you're doing all you can?
Anthony Anderson 22:08
No.
Unknown Speaker 22:10
Be honest with yourself. It's time to get real and take control. Your numbers are your scoreboard Don't let them get the best of you. I'm not telling you it's going to be easy. Because it's not. It's got to be tough. But it will be so worth it. This is your chance, your call to get
Anthony Anderson 22:33
real.
Unknown Speaker 22:35
Maybe the disease won the first round, but we're still in this fight. You're not alone. We're in it together. Now tell me this. What are we going to do?
Scott Benner 22:51
Okay, now let's get to the ads. Right. I want to thank Omni pod for sponsoring the show. ami pod makes the tubal sense on pumping My daughter has been wearing for a decade, it is small, does not have any tubing whatsoever that is attached to you. Like you know how you see people with a pump and there's like a controller hanging from their belt or something the Omni pod does not have that everything about the on the pod is self contained inside of this little pod that you wear. Now there is a controller that you carry separately, it's not attached to you. So you know what the hook onto it could be in your pocket, it could be, you know, in your purse, it's not something you need frequently, it doesn't have the insulin in it. That's the problem with those other pumps is the insolence in that controller, it's being pumped through the tube. I don't know if you know that or not, without the pause of the insolence with you. That means you don't have to disconnect your electronic device, like with other pumps, to get a shower or to go swimming or to go in the ocean or to play sports. So you're always getting a constant flow of insulin. You don't have to take my word for it though, you can go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box. And there you can request a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod. We'll actually just send one right to your house, and you can wear it and try. And if you like it, you keep going. And if you don't, no harm no foul took you five minutes. Next I'd like to remind you to go to dancing for diabetes.com dancing for diabetes is charity that helps children living with Type One Diabetes through dance. It's dancing the number four diabetes.com they have a great Instagram a great Facebook. Mostly you just going to see really cute kids having a great time dancing and dancing for diabetes wants no more or less from you. And for you to just know they exist to check them out. That's a simple ask dancing the number four diabetes.com. And last but certainly not least Dexcom makers of the G six continuous glucose monitor. Arden has been wearing a dexcom for ever. It gives us the information about what's going on her body that we can see you heard Anthony talked about it earlier. One of the hardest parts about diabetes is that something's happening in your body and you don't know what it is. But with Dexcom you can see it you See the direction and the speed that your blood sugar is moving. This is incredibly impactful. Not only that, but Dexcom offers a share and follow feature. So if you would like someone else to see your blood sugar, say a relative, a spouse, if you'd like to see your child's blood sugar, you can. It's amazing. It's available for Android and iPhone. And it is exactly how I always know what Arden's blood sugar is. As a matter of fact, I see right now she needs a bolus. So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go. You can learn more about all these things at Juicebox podcast.com or by going to the links in your show notes. It's my Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox dexcom.com forward slash juicebox are dancing the number four diabetes.com. Don't forget Anthony would get real about diabetes, they really would love for you to go to their Facebook page. I'm going to link to their Facebook page through my Facebook page and hear in the show notes. Okay, before we go as promised, here's the audio from the video that Anthony sent to my kids was so nice of him to do and they got such a kick out of it. Check it out.
Unknown Speaker 26:06
Arden Cole and Carney. I will forever be known to you as uncle Anthony. So you can show that all your friends be my uncle and sent me a video. Hey, guys, love you. Thank you for being fans of the show. And I hear somebody who's the best liar in the family wants to be on to tell the truth. You got a personal invite to come live, but practicing your dad first.
Anthony Anderson 26:31
Alright guys love you.
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