15 episodes

Life with chronic illness can be tough, dealing with treatments can be tougher—but your bread doesn’t have to be! Join host Stephen Horrocks and producer Melissa Horrocks, an expert in Diabetes & medical devices and an artist living with Type 1, as they bake delicious bread together… then “break bread” with a variety of smart and interesting guests as they uncover the human in health and technology. Each episode dives into the love-hate relationships between people and devices, chronic illness and health, online communities and IRL. From doctors and researchers to insulin pump users and industry professionals, from private lives to public figures, Diabreadic’s guests are redefining what it means to live with Diabetes in the twenty-first century. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @diabreadic.

Diabreadic Stephen Horrocks and Melissa Horrocks

    • Society & Culture

Life with chronic illness can be tough, dealing with treatments can be tougher—but your bread doesn’t have to be! Join host Stephen Horrocks and producer Melissa Horrocks, an expert in Diabetes & medical devices and an artist living with Type 1, as they bake delicious bread together… then “break bread” with a variety of smart and interesting guests as they uncover the human in health and technology. Each episode dives into the love-hate relationships between people and devices, chronic illness and health, online communities and IRL. From doctors and researchers to insulin pump users and industry professionals, from private lives to public figures, Diabreadic’s guests are redefining what it means to live with Diabetes in the twenty-first century. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @diabreadic.

    Fougasse & Exploring Diabetes through Art w/ Dr. Samuel Thulin

    Fougasse & Exploring Diabetes through Art w/ Dr. Samuel Thulin

    Melissa and Steve are joined by Dr. Samuel Thulin—artist, composer, sound designer, educator, and researcher—to wrestle with the question: what role can art play in helping us understand life with Diabetes? And is it possible to think about the MASSIVE amounts of data created by CGMs and BG meters in creative ways, or even... outside of biomedicine? Sam details some of his works that transform blood sugar numbers into audio-visual-material art, and challenges us to think about how relationships are central to those understandings.

    And, we’re talking about fougasse! It’s pretty, it’s easy, and it’s basically a big leaf-shaped breadstick... what’s not to love? We used our basic white bread recipe (one batch will make 3 fougasse—recipe available over on the blog at https://www.diabreadic.com/blog/basic-sandwich-bread-recipe), and topped one with flaky salt, another with parmesan and black pepper, and the last with Syrian za’atar. You can shake it up and top them with whatever you happen to have on hand.

    Find out more about some of Dr. Samuel Thulin’s projects at his website samuelthulin.com

    Be sure to follow and/or subscribe, visit us at diabreadic.com, and go find us on Instagram @diabreadic! While you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review.

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh https://bit.ly/yme-fresh
    Creative Commons Attribution licence
    Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA
    Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ

    • 1 hr 17 min
    Highs & Lows: Life Alongside Diabetes — Focaccia w/ Loree

    Highs & Lows: Life Alongside Diabetes — Focaccia w/ Loree

    On this episode of our limited series Highs & Lows, Melissa talks with her mom Loree about Diabetes in school, understanding diagnosis when it’s your child, negotiating responsibility for care and treatment—all interrupted by an untimely (and classic...) low blood sugar while they were recording.

    And since it’s her favorite, it is all too appropriate that we are talking about focaccia on Loree’s episode! This olive oil-rich sheet-pan baked bread is delicious, easy (and forgiving), and can be topped with pretty much anything you feel like throwing at it.

    Bryan Ford, who we mention briefly in the episode, is the author of *New World Sourdough* and host of the Magnolia Network show *The Artisan’s Kitchen*. You can find him on Instagram @artisanbryan and you can find his blog and cook book at the links below:

    https://www.artisanbryan.com/
    https://www.amazon.com/New-World-Sourdough-Techniques-Fermented/dp/1631598708

    Highs & Lows is a limited series exploring what life with chronic illness means for those who live alongside diagnosis—not in it themselves. In each episode Melissa sits down with a member of her family to talk through their personal memories of shared experiences with Diabetes, treatments, and all the funny/difficult bits in-between.

    Be sure to follow and/or subscribe, visit us at diabreadic.com, and go find us on Instagram @diabreadic! While you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review.

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh https://bit.ly/yme-fresh
    Creative Commons Attribution licence
    Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA
    Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Cinnamon Rolls & Diabetic Stereotypes and Performance w/ Dr. Bianca C. Frazer

    Cinnamon Rolls & Diabetic Stereotypes and Performance w/ Dr. Bianca C. Frazer

    Why is Diabetes always the butt of the joke?

    Dr. Bianca C. Frazer joins us to discuss Diabetic performance: on stage, on screen, and among society more broadly. Jokes about Diabetes usually follow the same uncreative (and stigmatizing) formulas, and they recreate a lot of damaging assumptions about Diabetic people in the process. But comedy, and performance in general, CAN be a valuable means for pushing back against those systems that shame and defame.

    We are also talking about everyone’s favorite sticky buns: Cinnamon Rolls! Sticky, rich, sweet and salty, with a dollop of icing on top... this recipe takes it all to a whole other level. You can find this recipe in the Bread Illustrated from America’s Test Kitchen:

    https://shop.americastestkitchen.com/bread-illustrated-new.html

    Dr. Frazer is co-editor of *(Un)Doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture* with Dr. Heather Walker. More info and links to purchase can be found at undoing-diabetes.com

    Be sure to follow and/or subscribe, visit us at diabreadic.com, and go find us on Instagram @diabreadic! While you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review.

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh https://bit.ly/yme-fresh

    Creative Commons Attribution licence

    Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA

    Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ

    • 1 hr 17 min
    Tortillas & Diabetes Service Dogs w/ Taylor Johnson

    Tortillas & Diabetes Service Dogs w/ Taylor Johnson

    Melissa and Steve are joined by Taylor Johnson (@taylorbetic on Instagram) for a conversation about Diabetes service animals.

    Johnson has been active in work related to medical racism, insulin affordability, mental health and chronic illness—and especially over the past few years, her Diabetes Service Dog Claire. She talks about the intensive application process and years-long training regimes involved in establishing a working relationship with a service animal. But it’s about more than the work, as that human-canine relationship becomes one of mutual care and fulfillment.

    We also made tortillas! I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: flatbread is bread, and tortillas are one of the best. We merged some aspects of both a community recipe from Serious Eats and a Food Network recipe from Rick Martinez (which can be found here):
    https://www.seriouseats.com/soft-chewy-flour-tortillas-recipe

    https://www.foodnetwork.com/fnk/recipes/flour-tortillas-7265712

    But there’s more! We talk through a lot of important bits and bobs related to mental health and chronic illness, racism and Diabetes communities (online and IRL) and resources for those who are in crisis.

    The Diabulimia Helpline is staffed by folks who have both the training and knowledge to help connect you with the resources that can help in moments of crisis and in long-term mental health treatment. Whether you are experiencing eating disorders, depression, anxiety, burnout, PTSD, or otherwise, staff are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

    diabulimiahelpline.org

    (425) 985-3635

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh https://bit.ly/yme-fresh
    Creative Commons Attribution licence
    Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA
    Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ

    • 1 hr 32 min
    Highs & Lows: Life Alongside Diabetes — Sandwich Bread w/ Marcus

    Highs & Lows: Life Alongside Diabetes — Sandwich Bread w/ Marcus

    In this episode of our limited series Highs & Lows, Melissa talks with her younger brother Marcus about Squeezits and school lunch, blood spurts, bedtime scrambled eggs, and how Diabetes has always been a “normal” part of life around him—until moments of crisis reveal those difficult bits.

    And since we're months into the show and have never breached the topic: it's sandwich bread time! Old reliable doesn't get much love but it doesn't get much better (and easier) than a basic sandwich bread recipe. Ours here is one we've made A LOT over the past few years, and have played with endlessly.

    You can find this recipe, along with some helpful tips and insights on the blog at https://www.diabreadic.com/blog/basic-sandwich-bread-recipe

    We mentioned Modernist Bread Crumbs in the episode, and if you have any interest in bread do yourself a favor and go listen to all of it:

    https://heritageradionetwork.org/series/modernist-breadcrumbs

    Highs & Lows is a limited series exploring what life with chronic illness means for those who live alongside diagnosis—not in it themselves. In each episode Melissa sits down with a member of her family to talk through their personal memories of shared experiences with Diabetes, treatments, and all the funny/difficult bits in-between.

    Be sure to follow and/or subscribe, visit us at [diabreadic.com](http://diabreadic.com), and go find us on Instagram @diabreadic! While you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review.

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh [https://bit.ly/yme-fresh](https://bit.ly/yme-fresh)
    Creative Commons Attribution licence
    Free Download / Stream: [https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA](https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA)
    Music promoted by Audio Library [https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ](https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ)

    • 1 hr 10 min
    Banana Bread & The Physical Traces of Insulin Pump Use

    Banana Bread & The Physical Traces of Insulin Pump Use

    Insulin Pumps and CGMs can be life-changing--miraculous even. But as always-connected medical devices, that influence can be... complicated.

    These devices, and the many others used in treating Diabetes, leave physical traces behind that stay present for people as they go about their day-to-day life. Melissa and Steve talk through what it means that pumps and monitors have to be right there with you AT ALL TIMES (better have a bag ready). And what is more, they are attached to the skin and inserted into the body in ways that can leave marks, holes, and scars behind for days or even weeks/months.

    We also made banana bread! (Or... is it cake? Anyone care to chime in?) This recipe comes from Aubry Bennion (@aubryeliz on Instagram), and is super rich and indulgent -- plus super simple and is a great one to make with little ones.

    There's more! We also finally launched our website, diabreadic.com , where you can go to find more detailed information from our episodes along with more content related to Diabetes, chronic illness, bread and breadmaking, and much much more.

    Be sure to follow and/or subscribe wherever you are listening, and go find us on Instagram @diabreadic! While you're at it, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review.

    Music: September Rain by Yme Fresh https://bit.ly/yme-fresh
    Creative Commons Attribution licence
    Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3FfoBtA
    Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/kVCTa0-bDkQ

    • 58 min

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