Melanie

"Previously, I was really nervous to incorporate a variety of carbs at home and while eating out with family because of the blood sugar spikes and just fearing being out of control, feeling crappy, and not knowing what to do about it. But I've been able to break through that fear barrier of carbs and dosing insulin and not worry about high blood sugars because they rarely happen and if they do, I know what caused them and what to do about it. I've even been able to eat appetizers with carbs that had dried fruit and a Vietnamese place with rice noodles that were "risky" for me, which I never would have done before.

I have so much more trust in my body to bring it back down and proud that I'm not worrying about my blood sugar as much anymore. I think what helped was to know that it was normal and healthy to have a blood sugar "bump." I have consistent 80-90 blood sugars before eating and < 140 after meals without dosing a ton of insulin while incorporating more fruit and starches than I've eaten in some time! I don't have the same stubborn highs I was getting and have gotten way more comfortable with eating carbs.

My blood sugar is a lot more stable, rarely spiking or dropping low, and as a result, I'm feeling great! My appetite has also improved where I've been able to eat early when I wake up, I feel more satisfied after meals, and I don't feel hungry during the middle of the night, like I used to. By eating more earlier and front loading my day with food, it's actually helped to lower my blood sugar in the evening and even into the next day!

Eating earlier has also allowed me to prevent low blood sugar and symptoms, like feeling anxious and shaky, after my morning walks. I feel like these have helped my sleep where it's more restful and when I wake up, it's more smooth waking up instead of jarring like it used to. I'm also not needing catnaps like I used to to catch up on rest.

Since my energy and sleep have been improving, I’ve felt more able to exercise and move after meals and have developed an exercise routine I've been able to keep up with each day. I think this has been helpful in keeping my blood sugar in range as well. I can totally see how the results I got are directly related to how I plan my eating. I think my main takeaway from my time with you is that I learned to pay attention to how foods made me feel instead of just focusing on the numbers (bg, macros, etc.) 

Outside of just nutrition, I felt like what we talked about with having outlets for stress, like painting and playing the piano, especially around tax season has been incredibly helpful for improving my stress, but also insulin resistance. I would definitely recommend Isaac if you're wanting to improve your blood sugars, overcome your fear of carbs, insulin, and blood sugar spikes, and feel you best in a variety of ways!"

Ann

1. How did you hear about the Balanced Blood Sugar Roadmap program and what made you want to work with Isaac?

I believe my sister first mentioned that I should start following you. Not to be cocky, but I feel like I know quite a bit about nutrition. I’ve been a dietitian for 15 years and I have several siblings with type 1 diabetes. I was just impressed with your knowledge and nuance with it. You weren’t like just eat carbs and take insulin, you understood the story beyond those. You and your content were right up my alley!

2. What were the blood sugar and health struggles you were experiencing in the beginning?

So at that time, I wasn’t responding to insulin therapy. I would take insulin and my blood sugars wouldn’t budge and it was so frustrating and I admit, I was extremely stressed. I was so scared to be honest, I was in a very scary place and feeling like my body was just not going to respond to insulin. My blood sugar was always in the 300s. Also, whenever I injected the insulin it would lead to a lot of pain throughout my body so I was having a horrible reaction to it. So I tried diet, I tried Paleo, keto, then raw vegan. It helped to some extent with my blood sugar, but then I started getting seizures and blackouts like every day. I realized at that time I had a tendency towards orthorexia, so I have to be really careful with that as well. One of the biggest things as well was my poor appetite and nausea, especially when I ate protein. So I mean I’ve navigated some really difficult things when it comes to food and eating. Right before we got going, I was hospitalized with DKA and came out feeling a lot worse and they [doctors] gave me tons of medication that messed up my GI tract and I couldn’t prepare my own food or walk. At this time, my A1c was a 13.8.

3. Were you skeptical about me/joining the program?

Yeah a little. I’ve worked with with a lot of different people and they really didn’t have answers. I was hopeful though because I can recognize, especially in nutrition, when someone knows their stuff. You understand that stress plays a critical role and you don’t think I’m making stuff up when I say, “When I take insulin, my blood sugar goes up.” I’m not joking, my first endocrinologist was like, “No, that doesn’t happen.” They were just like, we’re going to put you on metformin and topical metformin

It felt good to have your support and understanding when I know this isn’t a typical situation. Mine was pretty complex and that’s what I would say to anyone looking to work with you, especially if they’re not feeling like they’re getting answers or really confused because they’re “doing everything right!” I know I didn’t eat enough protein and I know that I needed what you’ve been for me where you gave me reminders of why things, like protein, were important to recovery. What was really helped was how you reminded me that while I didn’t want to eat protein because I would gag, you reminded me that this can happen when you’ve been vegetarian for a long time, and it can improve, which it did!

4. How are your blood sugar balance and health now that we have worked together? 

I can’t tell you how supportive it’s been. I feel like I have a resource that is knowledgeable and really experienced rather than just going to the doctors or even endocrinologist who are clueless. Even my colleagues that are diabetes educators, I felt like you know way more than them because they’re all about educating on carbs and counting carbs, but they didn’t really have the understanding of what it’s like to be a type 1 diabetic and you’re doing everything.

Blood sugar wise, they’re much more stable. My A1c came down to 13.8 to 6.7 over the course of 3 months. I feel a lot more comfortable in that regard and I’m learning to listen to my both rather than just following the Dexcom and I feel like that’s more indicative of my needs. The horrible reactions to insulin aren’t happening anymore and it has really helped with eating regularly and balanced meals. I also gained 20 lbs of healthy weight. My BMI was like 15 when I was in the hospital with DKA and now it’s the normal range. I’ve also been able to get off all my pain medications that was actually negatively impacting my appetite. My sleep went from like 1-2 hours a night to sleeping through the night each night!

I feel like your support helped to talk me down and encourage me to eat animal protein. After the DKA, we focused on including more potassium and felt a lot better, was walking, making my own food, and having energy. But then I started to improve with you encouraging me to eat regularly even though I didn’t want to haha, getting on an insulin pump, and eating more protein. I love that you have that knowledge of psychology of eating and value finding joy in life and understanding where your stress level is and how that plays a role in your health and blood sugar.

5. What would you say to someone who's considering working with Isaac?

I needed support and I wasn’t getting it anywhere, I was doing it on my own. I was scared and even my doctors weren’t good support. It was so important for me to have someone that knew what to do because for one, I wasn’t thinking clearly just with how poorly I was feeling and two, it’s just you had even more knowledge and knowledge in areas and things that I didn’t do that you would remind me of every time that we would meet. It was like a reboot every time we talked and I felt like, “Okay, I can do this!” It was really important for me and financially was a stretch, but it was worth it for sure because look at how far I’ve come and I just feel like I would have ran out of steam without having support.

It was just too much even with the knowledge base that I had. I just needed someone to say you’re doing it right, keep going, you’ve got this because I’ve been doing it on my own for 4 or 5 years trying to find a doctor that could help me and it just failed. With all the pain and pharmaceuticals I was taking and having it backfire, I had to learn different approaches if you want tighter [blood sugar] control. All you’ve been taught is carb coverings and counts and on your cycle you’re going to have to adjust a bit, like just little tweaks, but there’s so much more out there, like mineral balance, balancing your macros in your meals, and all those kinds of things. It’s just really good to know that as well. I would endorse you as a nutritional professional and that should say a lot because I I know a lot about nutrition and if I’m impressed with your knowledge and skill-base, that says it’s pretty good endorsement. It’s incredible, like really incredible how far I’ve come and I really appreciate your help so much. Thank you, I really appreciate you!