Type 1 on 1 | Diabetes Stories Jen Grieves

‘We can do everything with type 1, but we can’t do everything.’
 
Beth Edwards is the kind of person with whom you instantly feel safe and seen. Through her work as a nutritional therapist, she encompasses a holistic approach to health, food, stress and type 1 diabetes in order to help people living with the condition reset their relationship with food.
 
Beth has helped countless people break free of the stigmas, shame and isolation that can overwhelm people with diabetes, particularly in relation to the complex relationship many have with the foods they eat, helping them to discover a sense of empowerment and enjoyment at mealtimes.

Beth has been able to blend her psychological training, nutritional expertise and her own lived experience in her practice, having lived with type 1 diabetes since she was nine years old. 

In this meaty episode (excuse the pun!) we chat through Beth’s own journey with her type 1, her motivations for wanting to help people with diabetes in ways that are often out of reach within the time constraints of hospital appointments, as well as ways in which people can start addressing their food and glucose level frustrations. She also offers loads of practical advice around mealtime rituals, dosing timing, insulin sensitivity, sleep, post-meal spikes and so much more.

This episode filled my cup right up - I hope it satisfies your emotional cravings too! 

CONNECT WITH BETH:
Follow Beth on Instagram.
Take a look at Beth's services and support guides on her website.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY
We’ve got an Instagram account! Come and say hi @studiotype1on1.

SPONSOR MESSAGE:

Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod. 
 
Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days.
 
Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more.

Look who it is, Ami Bennett has returned to the podcast airwaves!

In a break from regularly scheduled programming, my type 1 friend Ami and co-host of spin-off series Type 1 on 1: The Diaries pops in to give us a little life update, as it has somehow been a whole year since she said hello on the podcast. We have a lovely catch up and hear about how she's getting on with her hard-won insulin pump 18 months in, and then she grills me on my new gadget - the hybrid closed loop system, which it's fair to say has had quite the impact on my life.

It's not all about gadgets though, as in true Jen and Ami style there are plenty of escapades to report and a silly joke or two. We talk about how Ami's disappearing hypo symptoms have conversely made her less anxious about having them, whether there is such a thing as a pleasant hypo experience (chocolate in bed, anyone?) and we find out Ami's less than affectionate names for her different basal programmes. You've got to keep it entertaining, right?

If you fancy some deep chats with a couple of friends as well as a bit of light relief when it comes to the chaos that is type 1 diabetes, you're in the right place!

Here's the article I recently wrote about switching to a hybrid closed loop if you fancy a read.

CONNECT WITH AMI:
Follow Ami on Instagram.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY
We’ve got an Instagram account! Come and say hi @studiotype1on1.

SPONSOR MESSAGE:
Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod. 
 
Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days.
 
Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more. 

I am always left completely humbled and in awe when I speak to the parents of children with type 1 diabetes, and this episode is no different. And it brings with it a superhero... by the name of Captain Lantus.
 
Captain Lantus is the brain child of 10-year-old Max Rapson, brought to life by his dad Gary, today’s guest. Gary and his wife Sarah were plunged into a living nightmare back in 2014 when Max slipped into a coma at just 18 months old. What followed was months of around the clock care to keep their baby happy and healthy after a terrifying type 1 diabetes diagnosis. 
 
When Max was 3, an insulin pump changed Gary and Sarah’s lives, but for Max it was a different story. He would run away from site changes to get away from the device he just didn’t want to be attached to. Aged 6, Max came home from school with an idea that his insulin pump was in fact his superpower, and their children’s book, The Adventures of Captain Lantus, was born. 
 
Since then Gary, Sarah and Max, with the help of some trusty sidekicks and a brilliant community, have been on a mission to get their books to newly diagnosed children all over world to help them to feel empowered by, rather than afraid of, the possibilities of diabetes technology.
 
This episode covers a lot, from the trauma of that terrifying diagnosis, two parents finding their way in the dark, to the advancement of technology and the mission to make sure no child is scared of it the way that Max understandably was. Now 10, Max is confident and thriving, and the family is working hard to spread the message of Captain Lantus around the world to help newly diagnosed families. 
 
Heartbreaking, uplifting and inspiring - this is a powerful episode and I can’t thank Gary enough for the service he’s done for other type 1 parents by sharing his story.
 
CONNECT WITH GARY AND CAPTAIN LANTUS:
Follow The Adventures of Captain Lantus on Instagram.
Find them on Facebook.
Visit the Captain Lantus website.
You can support Captain Lantus via their GoFundMe page here.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY We’ve got an Instagram account!
Come and say hi @studiotype1on1.

SPONSOR MESSAGE:
Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod. 
 
Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days.
 
Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more.

Today’s guest is Mohammad AlBahar, also known as @thediabetictraveler. Diagnosed at just two years old, he’s witnessed mammoth changes in diabetes managed since he was diagnosed in 1985. 

Moh is the founder of the Diabetes Ambassadors Program, a non-profit in Kuwait that works to empower people living with diabetes by advocating for the needs and rights of those living with the condition.
 
As well as peer support and education, the foundation is currently working towards establishing new laws for people with diabetes in the workplace. 
 
Moh reveals how existing as the best version of himself possible is the most powerful tool he has to challenge misconceptions, while crucially understanding that changing a person’s perspective cannot be forced.
 
We also talk about burnout, fitness, the challenges of airport security, the psychology of diabetes and most importantly, why Lego is Moh’s not-so-secret superpower when it comes to dealing with the mental load of diabetes.
 
CONNECT WITH MOH:
Follow The Diabetic Traveler on Instagram.
Follow The Diabetes Ambassadors Program on Instagram.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY
We’ve got an Instagram account! Come and say hi @studiotype1on1.

SPONSOR MESSAGE:

Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod.   

Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days. 

Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more.

Oh my goodness, this episode 3
 
Jewellery designer and all-round lovely woman Katie Pell was days away from giving birth when she agreed to speak to me about her road to motherhood with type 1 diabetes.
 
Primose Florence Pell entered this world with a leap on February 29th 2024, just a week later!
 
Katie’s journey with type 1 diabetes, not to mention becoming a mum, has had its challenges. It includes some incredibly difficult periods of frustration and despair, not only for her health and mental wellbeing, but for the gap in the system she found herself in between her diabetes team and the IVF clinic Katie couldn’t access until her glucose levels hit an incredibly unforgiving range. 
 
Diabetes technology changed her life. ‘Closed loop is the only reason I have a baby,’ she says, which is as heart-stopping as it is hopeful for anyone on this road. 
 
This is a story about hope, of support systems, of understanding what it means to be human, to have feelings about wanting to be well not only for yourself, but for those in your life - and those you hope to bring into this world.
 
It’s ultimately a story about love, in all of its forms.
 
Katie candidly opens up about the decision to start a family, the interactions she had with healthcare professionals, the toil type 1 diabetes has taken on her headspace, her relationship with food and being in partnership when diabetes decides to gatecrash more than one life. She's also an incredible jeweller, so take a look at her work!
 
CONNECT WITH KATIE:
Follow Crux London on Instagram.
Follow The Workbench on Instagram.
Find out more about nutritionist Beth Edwards.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY We’ve got an Instagram account! Come and say hi @studiotype1on1.

SPONSOR MESSAGE:
Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod.   
 
Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days.
 
Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more.

Not everyone loves a deep chat as much as I do, but documentary film maker Lisa Hepner really went there with me as we plunged the depths of the rollercoaster that is type 1 diabetes, in an episode I’ve been thinking about eve since we recorded. In a way I felt like I was speaking to someone I already knew. 
 
Lisa knows more about type 1 diabetes than most. Not only has she lived with the condition since she was diagnosed in 1991 aged 21, she spent over a decade filming, writing, directing and producing The Human Trial - a film that closely follows the progress of a radical stem cell trial hoping cure type 1 diabetes for good.
 
As heart-wrenching as it is inspirational, The Human Trial follows the personal journeys of both the patients and the researchers who risk everything to go first, in a bid change the future for all of us living with this condition. It left me deeply confronted and incredibly hopeful, and in this episode we get the inside story.
 
WATCH THE HUMAN TRIAL:
The Human Trial website.
Watch The Human Trial on Prime Video.
Watch The Human Trial on Apple TV.
Follow The Human Trial on Instagram.
 
JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 COMMUNITY
We’ve got an Instagram account! Come and say hi @studiotype1on1

SPONSOR MESSAGE:
Thanks to my episode sponsors Insulet, the founders of Pod Therapy - only found with Omnipod.   
 
Pod Therapy uses a tubeless, wearable and waterproof Pod that continuously delivers insulin for up to three days.
 
Controlled wirelessly by its handheld companion, it allows you to personalise your insulin doses according to your own daily needs - no multiple daily injections and no tubes.
 
Head to https://www.omnipod.com/ to find out more.