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LBWH 025: Interview with Angela

 
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Hope: In today’s episode, we will discover how Angela wrestled with type 1 diabetes and overcame it through a combination of mindset, exercise and nutrition; all things that we focus here on living beyond with Hope. Diabetes was a label that she did not get to choose but her story will show you how she is now living beyond. Welcome Angela so glad to have you here on the show today

Angela: Thank you.

Hope: Absolutely. To get started, tell the living beyond family about yourself; what you do, what your hobbies are and what you love about life.

Angela: I’m actually a coolsculpting provider. It’s the body contouring procedure that actually helps to freeze your fat and overtone. It just dissipates. It’s actually pretty cool. It’s not painful or anything. It’s basically non invasive lypho. I do that. I also work with a doctor. She does bioidentical hormonal wellness and she also does a whole micro biome weight loss. She focuses on nutrition and I help with her patient. I help her do all of that and get them do something.

Hope: Could you elaborate on some of those things that you do on daily basis? I actually recently learned about the freezing of fats and I know some of the term you use are definitely little more scientific. Would you mind sharing a little bit more about that because there are maybe some people that are actually interested on those types of thing?

Angela: Yes. Coolsculpting is really a procedure. It’s been around now for about twelve years. For those really begging, California first and I live in North Carolina. It just kind of coming to my area now and being really popular. Basically, what it does is it’s not a weight loss procedure but it’s for the people that really just workout. They exercise. They eat right but they can’t get those little stubborn areas that bother them. I’ve actually treated my love handles. Basically, it’s like a suction cup device. It sucks up all your fat and you’re on it for an hour. It cools your fat down for about nineteen degrees. You’re completely protected. It never actually touches your skin and then after that, you do a manual two minutes massage. You basically go back to normal. You’re a little swallowing but other than that over three month period it just starts to go away.

Hope: This is a question that I’m curious about your left handles. Talking about labels, I always give my injections on my love handle. That’s like an area that is just super pesky. Like you, I exercise also and eat well. Tell me what is that like run cost wise and is it like long term? Is it something I need to keep going back for? I am super intrigued.

Angela: Basically, it is non-invasive lypho. That is pretty much what they call because there is no down time. You can go right back to your daily activities. There is very minimal pain. I did mine three weeks ago. Now I still have some numbness. You do get loss of sensation. It can last up to two months but it’s nothing that bothers me. It’s just the fact that my hand there, I kind of feel that there is not a full sensation. Just over your three months period, you’ll just notice the results at the end of three months. Basically cost wise, it is hard to determine because it’s such an individualized procedure. Not everybody is the same.
Let’s take left handle, for example. Coolsculpting has small paddles and large paddles. Most people use small paddle and those run normally 500 to 700 a peace. It just depends. Most people do, like in my practice right now; we’re doing 30 % off. You actually get the procedure done for about $49 aside. For some people that only need one treatment just depending on where you’re starting from. Some people need one treatment. Some people can go up to three treatments. Every time you do it, it’s about an average of 20 % reduction. Some people it’s more; some people it’s less just depending on your body.
It’s permanent because it’s actually killing those fats cell. It’s excreting them through your body. Your own natural lymphatic system goes in and then it’s permanent. It’s reducing those fats cells. You don’t grow a new fat cell but what can happen is if you don’t continue on your healthy living, your working out, the fat cell you do still have there. As we gain weight, our fat cells expand. As we lose weight, our fat cells shrink. If you gain weight, you can gain weight back in the area but if you don’t, then, it’s gone for good.
Hope: I’m curious for people that have diabetes, when you have more fat you’re a little less sensitive insulin. You’re pretty insulin sensitive, I believe and so do you know if that situation would cause you to be a little bit more insulin sensitive?
Angela: Honestly, I don’t have any idea. I haven’t notice anything so far but I don`t take that much insulin to begin with. I would think maybe it could but I honestly don’t know.

Hope: Super interesting. That was awesome. I am probably going to ask you more questions about that later.

I kind of know you did something along those lines but didn’t have details. Ok so about the other aspect of your status over your job; that was the first part. What is the other aspect of what you do?
Angela: So I’m actually a CNA and I work with the doctor Jonson. She does hormonal wellness but she really focuses more on the holistic nutrition aspect. She does a weight loss program which focuses on your microbiome like getting the bacteria right within your body. It really just focuses health and usually when she gets your system working right, weight loss comes with it.
Hope: I love that! That totally makes complete sense. Is that kind of like got health?

Angela: Yes
Hope: Love me some got health. It took me a long time to appreciate that. That`s awesome.
When you are not working, what do you like to do for fun? What are some of your hobbies or what do you just love?
Angela: I honestly love working out. I go to pure bar almost every day, usually about six days a week. I absolutely love pure bar. When I don’t do that, I do some more high intensity workout. I like yoga, really anything to do with working out. It is a hobby for me and I know that sounds totally weird.
Hope: No that’s me too. People really got “You have no life”. It’s like “No, but it’s so freeing like it’s unbelievable. It’s kind of medicine that really is. I’m so glad that I’m not alone on that.
Angela: Even on vacation, I schedule time to workout. People think that’s so weird but for me, it’s relaxing. That’s just what I like doing.
Other than that, I live on the lake. I love hanging at the lake during the summer and just hanging out with friends; pretty simple stuff.
Hope: Perfect. That’s awesome. I think that is a great introduction.
Let’s see, tell real quickly when you receive the label type 1 diabetes. I know that it was later on in your life. Due to receiving that diagnosis, how did things change? Where were you at in your life at that time?
Angela: So, it was actually my senior year of college. I had just turned 21 and I was on fall break. I just went home and I hadn’t been feeling that well. I’d lost a bunch of weight. I think I was down to about a hundred pounds and people are just starting those things like “Are you okay? What’s going on? We see you eat all the time but you are losing all these weight.” I was like, “I mean, I am tired but I think I’m fine.”
I made an appointment with my doctor just to get a physical. He had told me “You know, I will just take some blood work to see what’s going on.” He took blood work and the next day he had told me, “I’ll get back with you in a week because I’m going on a vacation to Charleston.”
He called me the next day and I was kind of surprised because I had expected a week when I get back to school. He call me and he was like, “I’m going to come back from my vacation because you have what I think is type one diabetes. Your blood sugar is very elevated.” He asked me, “Do you know anything about this?”
Luckily I did, just because you I went to Chapel Hill and all my biology classes, I have learned about the basics. It freaked me out. I remember I was at a restaurant when I found out and he said he was coming home. He had already made me an appointment tomorrow with an endocrinologist he liked. He had already kind of taking care of all the ground work that needed to be done.
I remember I just kind of froze because I did know what it meant. I knew my life was going to change. After I got that under my feet, I went to the endocrinologist. I remember I was terrified. I was terrified in needles; that is the one thing that I was so terrified of. The nurse actually had to help me give my first shot. I just remember crying because I was so terrified. But it really wasn’t that bad.
After that I just remember, I took it really hard. I didn’t want to eat. I was terrified of everything I didn’t know. I didn’t want to harm my body anymore. I was just scared. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to do anything. My parents had to coach me through everything. I remember my mom coming in and checking my blood sugar in the middle of the night. I was just so exhausted I think from all the stress. My body just kind of shut down and I just wanted to sleep all the time.
After about two days of that, I guess I started telling people. My whole family knew I kind of came out of it. I actually went back to Chapel Hill within four days of the diagnosis.
So went back. I got all the healthy foods. Basically, I didn’t really have to change my evening habits that much rather than me just being scared to eat of anything. I already ate a ton of veggies. I already ate pretty low carbs and that’s actually what the doctor say kind of keep my body going. I kind of jump right in. It was definitely hard. It was my blood sugar fluctuated all the time from it so being high. When they got it under control, when they got my insulin right, I was low all this time. I would go low during class, during test. It was definitely a roller coaster. Just learning how to do everything with that but I think I got the hang of it pretty fast. Everybody around me, my sorority sisters, were really good. I remember they actually had me prick their fingers to know what it feels like. They learned how to get me shot in case anything had to happen. I had a really good support system which I think is the key in learning about all of that.
Hope: Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more in that .That’s awesome that you made that transition so quickly because usually I’m like “Okay, so you receive this label”. A lot of time you mentioned there’s like this roller coaster. For a lot of people there’s normally words like “This is enough. I’ve got to make a change”
This sounds like from this beginning, you already have some healthy lifestyles going on so there wasn’t exactly a turning point for you, right?

Angela: Not that I can pinpoint because I had the background and I already knew. It’s funny because I think right before we went on fall break; I remember in one of my biology classes, we had a week long assignment to live and to research the life of a type 1 diabetic. I remember thinking “Oh my God! This is so hard” They have to carbs count. They have to do all these things. I remember thinking, “This would be so hard for anybody to do”.
Then laterally, the next week, I found out. I think that was just kind of like a blessing from God and getting me ready for everything. I did kind of jumped in and transitioned pretty fast; not that it wasn’t hard. I was depressed a little bit. I still have a lot to figure out. There’s a lot of planning that comes with these. I just remember, I would get up earlier just to plan out my day. Make sure I had everything, like everything seems to take longer. That kind of thing but other than that, I think I did a pretty good job at transitioning. But there’s still even today, tons of figuring out of things, just where things go and how to your day to day activities are.
Hope: Absolutely! I feel you on that one. So really quick, I just picked up where you mentioned and I think this is so important. I know, I struggle with it on a regular basis and a lot of people do. I think that it’s a topic that we all know.

People with chronic illnesses, anything that’s kind of with them for the rest of their lives, struggle with depression. When you go through the stages of grief and you just received that label. I know for me, some days were just really hard. It still brings me down despites I know that I come often really positive. I believe that a positive attitude goes a long ways. I know that we all kind of have that struggle with depression sometimes. Do you have any tactics of how you get out of that when you’re feeling like your diabetes is just kind of bringing you down?
Angela: I absolutely so have those days where I wake up and instantly just don’t feel good. I wake and my blood sugar’s high or I wake up and my blood sugar’s low. I definitely have those days where I just don’t want to do anything today. I’m just going to be depressed. But what I found is I let myself feel that for a couple of minutes and then I just kind of set myself out of it. I feel like “Okay, you have this. You have to live with it. You’re a normal person. You just have this circumstance where you have these issues where sometimes you’re going to wake up and you’re going to feel bad” I kind of just talk myself out of it and I just go on with my daily routine. If you don’t, you are going to succumb to all those things and you’re going to make yourself feel worse. I also have my boyfriend who’s super supportive. He kind of knows how to stop me out of those situations. He can tell when I’m in it. I think just having people around you that know that to help you are really good.
Hope: Amen to that! I hope that everyone was listening to that because that is so true and I talked about community and support so much and the value of having people that can speak positively into you when you are really struggling with it. That perfect!
You have that background of Carolina with science stuff; the bio and things of that nature. You knew things but when you received your diagnoses to make your life style changes, did you do your own research and implement? Did you ask anybody that you already knew in your life that may have had it? Was it your doctor that taught you everything? How did you go about this initial diagnosis?
Angela: First, I went to my doctor, like I said before. Endocrinologist, their mind is actually really good. At first they come out with what you feel and fills you with all information of what you can and can’t do; what you can eat and what you can’t eat. I literally come out of there feeling like, “Oh my God! I don’t know what to do. I’m just kind of lost. I feel like I can’t eat anything.”
Now I understand and my endocrinologist is very supportive and very helpful but I think I just did a lot a research myself. I read stuff and at first it was just so overwhelming and scary but I didn’t really know anyone that had type 1. I mean, there was one of my family members by marriage that I don’t really know. I went to a cookout and I figured out that she had it.

She actually had a lot of struggles with it and I found out, unfortunately she still doesn’t really take that great care of it. She’s one of the people that kind of deny that she has it. I kind of learned from that and I’m not going to be like that. I remember being at this cookout and there were all this sweets and there were all these stuff. Ii just felt like, “Wow I don’t know what to choose”. Luckily, I’m the kind of person that always liked healthy foods anyway. I go to always veggies. I absolutely love veggies. That is kind of where I started and then I just started research. I got on pinterest. Actually Instagram helped me a lot. I started researching JDRF and from there, I just got all of these links to people that have type one; the kind of food they ate like low carbs foods; all these things and that actually really helped me.

Hope: Wait Instagram? How did Instagram help you?
Angela: I started with JDRF which is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. From there, you know how in Instagram, all these things just pop up of who you should follow. It just started following all these people with type one and their daily activities and kind of what they ate, what they were doing. I found some things like crackers that were made from all seeds and almond flour; really healthy for you. Things like that kind of help. I found a lot of my resources other than me just kind of researching.

Hope: That’s an awesome piece of advice. I know for me pinterest was definitely like a go to for recipes but I never thought about Instagram. Sometimes I feel like, depending on the age, but Instagram is such a hot social media platform that I never really thought about it being something for like recipes and such. That’s a great piece of advice.
Angela: Yeah, it’s definitely how I found some products that I really love now and that I used.
Hope: Are there any particular one or two products you would suggest to people?
Angela: So the biggest one that I found is called Jillz cracker. She is just a mom. She makes all her stuff with like nuts, seeds and almond flour. It’s super low carbs and it’s healthy for you. That, I think, is my favorite find.
Hope: Do you buy that in the store, online or like that?
Angela: It’s online. I don’t think she’s in store anywhere but it’s online. It’s relatively cheap. I think it’s like $7.99 for pack. She has all different flavors and it’s a pretty big pack. It last you for a while and I think the serving size is like five or six crackers and it’s like a hundred calories. I think the net carbs are about three to five.
Hope: Oh, that’s so cool because I make my own crackers. I make everything and I enjoy cooking but it’s so nice to have something that can come out of a box. If you can afford it and buy it online, it’s nice to have that convenient food. That is perfect. I will link that up in the show notes for people to check out. That is awesome
Angela: Absolutely! I used to make my own too but I found it was time consuming for me. When I found this, she’s doing it. I think right now it’s kind of like an out of her home kind of thing or small business but they’re really good. I mean they hold out to like cheese and crackers, any kind of dips. It’s really good.
Hope: Wow! That’s awesome! Perfect!
Next question, this could be a little challenging. Maybe you’ve had an opportunity to think about it. What was the one thing that you can comfortably say was the key to your success with your diabetes?
Angela: So, there’s of course, always nutrition and exercise but I think the one thing was my mindset. As soon as I kind of flipped and I realized, “Okay, I’m living with this. I don’t have to let it overcome me. I just have to figure another way to be normal with this and to not kind of label myself.” I think that was the biggest thing.
Hope: I could not agree with that more. I’m so glad that was your one thing. That’s definitely my one thing too.
What is your advice for someone who is also struggling with diabetes? What is your piece of advice for some someone that’s still kind of facing some hardships with it?
Angela: I know it’s so overwhelming. There are still days when I’m so overwhelmed but do not let it label you. I know when I first found out; I was kind of almost ashamed. It’s so awful to say that but I didn’t want people to see me check my blood sugar or see me giving my shots and stuff but now, I educate people. People honestly don’t know the difference between type 1 and type 2. They don’t know the daily struggles that you have just like keeping your blood sugars in count, making sure you’re not high, making sure you’re not low. There’s so much planning that has to go into it. People kind of think “Oh okay. You can just kind of give yourself a shot, you’re good to go.” I found that educating people makes them almost support you more and then they want to know. Especially your friends and family, you need to find people that are really supportive around you because if you don’t, then you’re going to feel alone. That’s just like a recipe for disaster.
Hope: Absolutely. I love that and I think that we all kind of blow off like teachable moments and we take them as almost like insults. It’s actually prime opportunity because people just simply do not know.

Are there any particular resources you will recommend for someone with diabetes? Like Instagram accounts, Facebook groups, organizations, any particular resource?
Angela: Honestly, there’s not really a particular one that I can come up with. I use pinterest all the time for recipes. I just find some and I kind of tweak it. I switch out like almond flours; stuff like that. I definitely use pinterest but also, I use your site, Hopeful Health, a ton. You have really helped me with understanding exercise, just your recipes, different things like that.

Hope: That makes me so happy because it definitely took time for me to master those recipes. I’ve even told you in the past. For anyone that’s hearing this, Angela and I knew each other back at UNC. I actually didn’t know when you’re diagnosed. I think you just reach out to me maybe a year or two ago, I don’t know the exact time frame. It was cool to be able to help you on that and at least give you some recipe ideas. I know that I would like message you and be like “Oh that recipe, I’m still working on it.” Which, till this day, is I had a mess for me. But I am so glad to be able to serve that way. That’s awesome.
Angela: Yeah, and actually I don’t think I ever told you this but I remember when we were actually lab partners in physics. One day, you had the pump at that time. I just kind of saw it and at that time I honestly didn’t know anybody with type 1. I remember inquiring about it with my mom because she was the teacher. She’s like “Oh yeah. She probably has type 1 diabetes. We have a couple of kids that have them.” I remember from there, I kind of research it on my own and I honestly had no idea about it before you. For some reason, it just triggered my curiosity which I guess is good because a year later, I got it.
Hope: Yeah, that just shows what you said about it being almost like a blessing from God about that. That project research thing, you had to do prior to it. That’s hilarious. You’ve never told me that and I totally would educate you myself. I think even back then, although Hopeful Health wasn’t a thing yet. I always kind of already talked about. I love those teachable moments and I actually like when people stare at me. I’m like, “Yeah this is little different especially now I’m not on the pump. I do injections.” I think you’re still on injection. You know out on restaurant, I typically don’t go to the bathroom. You know, it is what is it and I embraces teachable moments
Angela: I used to always run to the bathroom or kind of hide but now I don’t. People look at me but people have no idea. I think it’s good for people to start being aware. There are all these different chronic diseases that people live with that you have no idea. I think it’s the good point.
Hope: Absolutely. Okay we got two more questions before we end. What is the one thing that you’re most excited about or you treasure the most knowing that despite having diabetes you’re still able to do that you know diabetes isn’t stopping you from it? I feel like your answer might be exercise so if you can think outside of that would be awesome.
Angela: It kind of is exercise but one of my things is I’ve always wanted to be a mom. I remember that was the first thing that I thought about in the doctor’s office like “Oh my God! I can’t have kids. I can’t have any of that.” But from researching and even on Instagram, like an account, I think it’s Beyond type 1, there’s always all these moms and all these people sharing their story. I know it’s going to be difficult but just to know that you can do it; you can keep your blood sugars in check and you can have healthy kids. Obviously, I haven’t done it yet but just knowing that there’s hope out there like that, I think that’s one big thing for me.
Other than that, now on the daily basis, I feel normal. I mean it’s coming to my daily routine and I remember my doctor being like “It’s going to take you awhile but eventually, it’s just going to be normal to you and you’re going to feel like a normal person again. You’re not going to think about checking your blood sugar, giving yourself shots.” I’m at that point now where it’s just kind of your day flows more. I mean of course, there is takes ups like everybody that’s diagnosed with this, they will get there and they will feel normal again. I think that’s my big thing.
Hope: Absolutely, I love that. I love your positivity. You totally match everything that I believe. This is awesome. My last thing for you is do you have a favorite quote that you turn to or kind of like a one sentence you go to keep you going each day?
Angela: I do have a favorite quote. It’s not one sentence. It’s a little long. It’s actually on my Instagram and I think it’s just when you are having a bad day or when you feel defeated, this is the quote I go to. It says, “Forget yesterday, it has already forgotten you. Don’t sweat tomorrow, you haven’t even met yet. Open your eyes and heart today.”
I think that’s such a powerful quote because sometimes we forget to live in the moment. If you had a bad day, we cannot let that define us. You can do that so it’s kind of what I turn to.
Hope: I love that. That is so true. That is a beautiful thing. That’s awesome.
It has been such a pleasure to have you on here. It’s been so awesome. You’re killing it which is awesome. I think that you are the epitome of living beyond diabetes and the message here. I greatly appreciate your time and everything you’ve offered. Do you have any closing word or remarks?
Angela: I just thank you so much for having me and just to let you know, you have honestly help me so much and just a further understanding what I thought I kind of already had a handle on especially with exercise and stuff. I get it so much more because of the resources that you’ve helped everybody and provided everybody with.
Hope: I’m smiling right now. That’s worth everything to me. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and your time. I’m sure that there’s going to be people that are actually getting so much value out of these. I’m so grateful for you to join here and I hope that you have an awesome day.
Angela: You as well.

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, I’d love for you to leave a note in the comment section below!

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Thanks for joining me this week. Until next time, keep living beyond!

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The post LBWH 025: Interview with Angela appeared first on Hope Mangiafico | Health and Wellness Strategist.

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When? This feed was archived on June 13, 2018 02:30 (6y ago). Last successful fetch was on February 21, 2018 05:57 (6y ago)

Why? Inactive feed status. Our servers were unable to retrieve a valid podcast feed for a sustained period.

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Manage episode 170961830 series 1307991
Content provided by Hope Mangiafico: Diagnosis and Business Strategist. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Hope Mangiafico: Diagnosis and Business Strategist or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

http://www.audibletrial.com/LBWH

Hope: In today’s episode, we will discover how Angela wrestled with type 1 diabetes and overcame it through a combination of mindset, exercise and nutrition; all things that we focus here on living beyond with Hope. Diabetes was a label that she did not get to choose but her story will show you how she is now living beyond. Welcome Angela so glad to have you here on the show today

Angela: Thank you.

Hope: Absolutely. To get started, tell the living beyond family about yourself; what you do, what your hobbies are and what you love about life.

Angela: I’m actually a coolsculpting provider. It’s the body contouring procedure that actually helps to freeze your fat and overtone. It just dissipates. It’s actually pretty cool. It’s not painful or anything. It’s basically non invasive lypho. I do that. I also work with a doctor. She does bioidentical hormonal wellness and she also does a whole micro biome weight loss. She focuses on nutrition and I help with her patient. I help her do all of that and get them do something.

Hope: Could you elaborate on some of those things that you do on daily basis? I actually recently learned about the freezing of fats and I know some of the term you use are definitely little more scientific. Would you mind sharing a little bit more about that because there are maybe some people that are actually interested on those types of thing?

Angela: Yes. Coolsculpting is really a procedure. It’s been around now for about twelve years. For those really begging, California first and I live in North Carolina. It just kind of coming to my area now and being really popular. Basically, what it does is it’s not a weight loss procedure but it’s for the people that really just workout. They exercise. They eat right but they can’t get those little stubborn areas that bother them. I’ve actually treated my love handles. Basically, it’s like a suction cup device. It sucks up all your fat and you’re on it for an hour. It cools your fat down for about nineteen degrees. You’re completely protected. It never actually touches your skin and then after that, you do a manual two minutes massage. You basically go back to normal. You’re a little swallowing but other than that over three month period it just starts to go away.

Hope: This is a question that I’m curious about your left handles. Talking about labels, I always give my injections on my love handle. That’s like an area that is just super pesky. Like you, I exercise also and eat well. Tell me what is that like run cost wise and is it like long term? Is it something I need to keep going back for? I am super intrigued.

Angela: Basically, it is non-invasive lypho. That is pretty much what they call because there is no down time. You can go right back to your daily activities. There is very minimal pain. I did mine three weeks ago. Now I still have some numbness. You do get loss of sensation. It can last up to two months but it’s nothing that bothers me. It’s just the fact that my hand there, I kind of feel that there is not a full sensation. Just over your three months period, you’ll just notice the results at the end of three months. Basically cost wise, it is hard to determine because it’s such an individualized procedure. Not everybody is the same.
Let’s take left handle, for example. Coolsculpting has small paddles and large paddles. Most people use small paddle and those run normally 500 to 700 a peace. It just depends. Most people do, like in my practice right now; we’re doing 30 % off. You actually get the procedure done for about $49 aside. For some people that only need one treatment just depending on where you’re starting from. Some people need one treatment. Some people can go up to three treatments. Every time you do it, it’s about an average of 20 % reduction. Some people it’s more; some people it’s less just depending on your body.
It’s permanent because it’s actually killing those fats cell. It’s excreting them through your body. Your own natural lymphatic system goes in and then it’s permanent. It’s reducing those fats cells. You don’t grow a new fat cell but what can happen is if you don’t continue on your healthy living, your working out, the fat cell you do still have there. As we gain weight, our fat cells expand. As we lose weight, our fat cells shrink. If you gain weight, you can gain weight back in the area but if you don’t, then, it’s gone for good.
Hope: I’m curious for people that have diabetes, when you have more fat you’re a little less sensitive insulin. You’re pretty insulin sensitive, I believe and so do you know if that situation would cause you to be a little bit more insulin sensitive?
Angela: Honestly, I don’t have any idea. I haven’t notice anything so far but I don`t take that much insulin to begin with. I would think maybe it could but I honestly don’t know.

Hope: Super interesting. That was awesome. I am probably going to ask you more questions about that later.

I kind of know you did something along those lines but didn’t have details. Ok so about the other aspect of your status over your job; that was the first part. What is the other aspect of what you do?
Angela: So I’m actually a CNA and I work with the doctor Jonson. She does hormonal wellness but she really focuses more on the holistic nutrition aspect. She does a weight loss program which focuses on your microbiome like getting the bacteria right within your body. It really just focuses health and usually when she gets your system working right, weight loss comes with it.
Hope: I love that! That totally makes complete sense. Is that kind of like got health?

Angela: Yes
Hope: Love me some got health. It took me a long time to appreciate that. That`s awesome.
When you are not working, what do you like to do for fun? What are some of your hobbies or what do you just love?
Angela: I honestly love working out. I go to pure bar almost every day, usually about six days a week. I absolutely love pure bar. When I don’t do that, I do some more high intensity workout. I like yoga, really anything to do with working out. It is a hobby for me and I know that sounds totally weird.
Hope: No that’s me too. People really got “You have no life”. It’s like “No, but it’s so freeing like it’s unbelievable. It’s kind of medicine that really is. I’m so glad that I’m not alone on that.
Angela: Even on vacation, I schedule time to workout. People think that’s so weird but for me, it’s relaxing. That’s just what I like doing.
Other than that, I live on the lake. I love hanging at the lake during the summer and just hanging out with friends; pretty simple stuff.
Hope: Perfect. That’s awesome. I think that is a great introduction.
Let’s see, tell real quickly when you receive the label type 1 diabetes. I know that it was later on in your life. Due to receiving that diagnosis, how did things change? Where were you at in your life at that time?
Angela: So, it was actually my senior year of college. I had just turned 21 and I was on fall break. I just went home and I hadn’t been feeling that well. I’d lost a bunch of weight. I think I was down to about a hundred pounds and people are just starting those things like “Are you okay? What’s going on? We see you eat all the time but you are losing all these weight.” I was like, “I mean, I am tired but I think I’m fine.”
I made an appointment with my doctor just to get a physical. He had told me “You know, I will just take some blood work to see what’s going on.” He took blood work and the next day he had told me, “I’ll get back with you in a week because I’m going on a vacation to Charleston.”
He called me the next day and I was kind of surprised because I had expected a week when I get back to school. He call me and he was like, “I’m going to come back from my vacation because you have what I think is type one diabetes. Your blood sugar is very elevated.” He asked me, “Do you know anything about this?”
Luckily I did, just because you I went to Chapel Hill and all my biology classes, I have learned about the basics. It freaked me out. I remember I was at a restaurant when I found out and he said he was coming home. He had already made me an appointment tomorrow with an endocrinologist he liked. He had already kind of taking care of all the ground work that needed to be done.
I remember I just kind of froze because I did know what it meant. I knew my life was going to change. After I got that under my feet, I went to the endocrinologist. I remember I was terrified. I was terrified in needles; that is the one thing that I was so terrified of. The nurse actually had to help me give my first shot. I just remember crying because I was so terrified. But it really wasn’t that bad.
After that I just remember, I took it really hard. I didn’t want to eat. I was terrified of everything I didn’t know. I didn’t want to harm my body anymore. I was just scared. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to do anything. My parents had to coach me through everything. I remember my mom coming in and checking my blood sugar in the middle of the night. I was just so exhausted I think from all the stress. My body just kind of shut down and I just wanted to sleep all the time.
After about two days of that, I guess I started telling people. My whole family knew I kind of came out of it. I actually went back to Chapel Hill within four days of the diagnosis.
So went back. I got all the healthy foods. Basically, I didn’t really have to change my evening habits that much rather than me just being scared to eat of anything. I already ate a ton of veggies. I already ate pretty low carbs and that’s actually what the doctor say kind of keep my body going. I kind of jump right in. It was definitely hard. It was my blood sugar fluctuated all the time from it so being high. When they got it under control, when they got my insulin right, I was low all this time. I would go low during class, during test. It was definitely a roller coaster. Just learning how to do everything with that but I think I got the hang of it pretty fast. Everybody around me, my sorority sisters, were really good. I remember they actually had me prick their fingers to know what it feels like. They learned how to get me shot in case anything had to happen. I had a really good support system which I think is the key in learning about all of that.
Hope: Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more in that .That’s awesome that you made that transition so quickly because usually I’m like “Okay, so you receive this label”. A lot of time you mentioned there’s like this roller coaster. For a lot of people there’s normally words like “This is enough. I’ve got to make a change”
This sounds like from this beginning, you already have some healthy lifestyles going on so there wasn’t exactly a turning point for you, right?

Angela: Not that I can pinpoint because I had the background and I already knew. It’s funny because I think right before we went on fall break; I remember in one of my biology classes, we had a week long assignment to live and to research the life of a type 1 diabetic. I remember thinking “Oh my God! This is so hard” They have to carbs count. They have to do all these things. I remember thinking, “This would be so hard for anybody to do”.
Then laterally, the next week, I found out. I think that was just kind of like a blessing from God and getting me ready for everything. I did kind of jumped in and transitioned pretty fast; not that it wasn’t hard. I was depressed a little bit. I still have a lot to figure out. There’s a lot of planning that comes with these. I just remember, I would get up earlier just to plan out my day. Make sure I had everything, like everything seems to take longer. That kind of thing but other than that, I think I did a pretty good job at transitioning. But there’s still even today, tons of figuring out of things, just where things go and how to your day to day activities are.
Hope: Absolutely! I feel you on that one. So really quick, I just picked up where you mentioned and I think this is so important. I know, I struggle with it on a regular basis and a lot of people do. I think that it’s a topic that we all know.

People with chronic illnesses, anything that’s kind of with them for the rest of their lives, struggle with depression. When you go through the stages of grief and you just received that label. I know for me, some days were just really hard. It still brings me down despites I know that I come often really positive. I believe that a positive attitude goes a long ways. I know that we all kind of have that struggle with depression sometimes. Do you have any tactics of how you get out of that when you’re feeling like your diabetes is just kind of bringing you down?
Angela: I absolutely so have those days where I wake up and instantly just don’t feel good. I wake and my blood sugar’s high or I wake up and my blood sugar’s low. I definitely have those days where I just don’t want to do anything today. I’m just going to be depressed. But what I found is I let myself feel that for a couple of minutes and then I just kind of set myself out of it. I feel like “Okay, you have this. You have to live with it. You’re a normal person. You just have this circumstance where you have these issues where sometimes you’re going to wake up and you’re going to feel bad” I kind of just talk myself out of it and I just go on with my daily routine. If you don’t, you are going to succumb to all those things and you’re going to make yourself feel worse. I also have my boyfriend who’s super supportive. He kind of knows how to stop me out of those situations. He can tell when I’m in it. I think just having people around you that know that to help you are really good.
Hope: Amen to that! I hope that everyone was listening to that because that is so true and I talked about community and support so much and the value of having people that can speak positively into you when you are really struggling with it. That perfect!
You have that background of Carolina with science stuff; the bio and things of that nature. You knew things but when you received your diagnoses to make your life style changes, did you do your own research and implement? Did you ask anybody that you already knew in your life that may have had it? Was it your doctor that taught you everything? How did you go about this initial diagnosis?
Angela: First, I went to my doctor, like I said before. Endocrinologist, their mind is actually really good. At first they come out with what you feel and fills you with all information of what you can and can’t do; what you can eat and what you can’t eat. I literally come out of there feeling like, “Oh my God! I don’t know what to do. I’m just kind of lost. I feel like I can’t eat anything.”
Now I understand and my endocrinologist is very supportive and very helpful but I think I just did a lot a research myself. I read stuff and at first it was just so overwhelming and scary but I didn’t really know anyone that had type 1. I mean, there was one of my family members by marriage that I don’t really know. I went to a cookout and I figured out that she had it.

She actually had a lot of struggles with it and I found out, unfortunately she still doesn’t really take that great care of it. She’s one of the people that kind of deny that she has it. I kind of learned from that and I’m not going to be like that. I remember being at this cookout and there were all this sweets and there were all these stuff. Ii just felt like, “Wow I don’t know what to choose”. Luckily, I’m the kind of person that always liked healthy foods anyway. I go to always veggies. I absolutely love veggies. That is kind of where I started and then I just started research. I got on pinterest. Actually Instagram helped me a lot. I started researching JDRF and from there, I just got all of these links to people that have type one; the kind of food they ate like low carbs foods; all these things and that actually really helped me.

Hope: Wait Instagram? How did Instagram help you?
Angela: I started with JDRF which is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. From there, you know how in Instagram, all these things just pop up of who you should follow. It just started following all these people with type one and their daily activities and kind of what they ate, what they were doing. I found some things like crackers that were made from all seeds and almond flour; really healthy for you. Things like that kind of help. I found a lot of my resources other than me just kind of researching.

Hope: That’s an awesome piece of advice. I know for me pinterest was definitely like a go to for recipes but I never thought about Instagram. Sometimes I feel like, depending on the age, but Instagram is such a hot social media platform that I never really thought about it being something for like recipes and such. That’s a great piece of advice.
Angela: Yeah, it’s definitely how I found some products that I really love now and that I used.
Hope: Are there any particular one or two products you would suggest to people?
Angela: So the biggest one that I found is called Jillz cracker. She is just a mom. She makes all her stuff with like nuts, seeds and almond flour. It’s super low carbs and it’s healthy for you. That, I think, is my favorite find.
Hope: Do you buy that in the store, online or like that?
Angela: It’s online. I don’t think she’s in store anywhere but it’s online. It’s relatively cheap. I think it’s like $7.99 for pack. She has all different flavors and it’s a pretty big pack. It last you for a while and I think the serving size is like five or six crackers and it’s like a hundred calories. I think the net carbs are about three to five.
Hope: Oh, that’s so cool because I make my own crackers. I make everything and I enjoy cooking but it’s so nice to have something that can come out of a box. If you can afford it and buy it online, it’s nice to have that convenient food. That is perfect. I will link that up in the show notes for people to check out. That is awesome
Angela: Absolutely! I used to make my own too but I found it was time consuming for me. When I found this, she’s doing it. I think right now it’s kind of like an out of her home kind of thing or small business but they’re really good. I mean they hold out to like cheese and crackers, any kind of dips. It’s really good.
Hope: Wow! That’s awesome! Perfect!
Next question, this could be a little challenging. Maybe you’ve had an opportunity to think about it. What was the one thing that you can comfortably say was the key to your success with your diabetes?
Angela: So, there’s of course, always nutrition and exercise but I think the one thing was my mindset. As soon as I kind of flipped and I realized, “Okay, I’m living with this. I don’t have to let it overcome me. I just have to figure another way to be normal with this and to not kind of label myself.” I think that was the biggest thing.
Hope: I could not agree with that more. I’m so glad that was your one thing. That’s definitely my one thing too.
What is your advice for someone who is also struggling with diabetes? What is your piece of advice for some someone that’s still kind of facing some hardships with it?
Angela: I know it’s so overwhelming. There are still days when I’m so overwhelmed but do not let it label you. I know when I first found out; I was kind of almost ashamed. It’s so awful to say that but I didn’t want people to see me check my blood sugar or see me giving my shots and stuff but now, I educate people. People honestly don’t know the difference between type 1 and type 2. They don’t know the daily struggles that you have just like keeping your blood sugars in count, making sure you’re not high, making sure you’re not low. There’s so much planning that has to go into it. People kind of think “Oh okay. You can just kind of give yourself a shot, you’re good to go.” I found that educating people makes them almost support you more and then they want to know. Especially your friends and family, you need to find people that are really supportive around you because if you don’t, then you’re going to feel alone. That’s just like a recipe for disaster.
Hope: Absolutely. I love that and I think that we all kind of blow off like teachable moments and we take them as almost like insults. It’s actually prime opportunity because people just simply do not know.

Are there any particular resources you will recommend for someone with diabetes? Like Instagram accounts, Facebook groups, organizations, any particular resource?
Angela: Honestly, there’s not really a particular one that I can come up with. I use pinterest all the time for recipes. I just find some and I kind of tweak it. I switch out like almond flours; stuff like that. I definitely use pinterest but also, I use your site, Hopeful Health, a ton. You have really helped me with understanding exercise, just your recipes, different things like that.

Hope: That makes me so happy because it definitely took time for me to master those recipes. I’ve even told you in the past. For anyone that’s hearing this, Angela and I knew each other back at UNC. I actually didn’t know when you’re diagnosed. I think you just reach out to me maybe a year or two ago, I don’t know the exact time frame. It was cool to be able to help you on that and at least give you some recipe ideas. I know that I would like message you and be like “Oh that recipe, I’m still working on it.” Which, till this day, is I had a mess for me. But I am so glad to be able to serve that way. That’s awesome.
Angela: Yeah, and actually I don’t think I ever told you this but I remember when we were actually lab partners in physics. One day, you had the pump at that time. I just kind of saw it and at that time I honestly didn’t know anybody with type 1. I remember inquiring about it with my mom because she was the teacher. She’s like “Oh yeah. She probably has type 1 diabetes. We have a couple of kids that have them.” I remember from there, I kind of research it on my own and I honestly had no idea about it before you. For some reason, it just triggered my curiosity which I guess is good because a year later, I got it.
Hope: Yeah, that just shows what you said about it being almost like a blessing from God about that. That project research thing, you had to do prior to it. That’s hilarious. You’ve never told me that and I totally would educate you myself. I think even back then, although Hopeful Health wasn’t a thing yet. I always kind of already talked about. I love those teachable moments and I actually like when people stare at me. I’m like, “Yeah this is little different especially now I’m not on the pump. I do injections.” I think you’re still on injection. You know out on restaurant, I typically don’t go to the bathroom. You know, it is what is it and I embraces teachable moments
Angela: I used to always run to the bathroom or kind of hide but now I don’t. People look at me but people have no idea. I think it’s good for people to start being aware. There are all these different chronic diseases that people live with that you have no idea. I think it’s the good point.
Hope: Absolutely. Okay we got two more questions before we end. What is the one thing that you’re most excited about or you treasure the most knowing that despite having diabetes you’re still able to do that you know diabetes isn’t stopping you from it? I feel like your answer might be exercise so if you can think outside of that would be awesome.
Angela: It kind of is exercise but one of my things is I’ve always wanted to be a mom. I remember that was the first thing that I thought about in the doctor’s office like “Oh my God! I can’t have kids. I can’t have any of that.” But from researching and even on Instagram, like an account, I think it’s Beyond type 1, there’s always all these moms and all these people sharing their story. I know it’s going to be difficult but just to know that you can do it; you can keep your blood sugars in check and you can have healthy kids. Obviously, I haven’t done it yet but just knowing that there’s hope out there like that, I think that’s one big thing for me.
Other than that, now on the daily basis, I feel normal. I mean it’s coming to my daily routine and I remember my doctor being like “It’s going to take you awhile but eventually, it’s just going to be normal to you and you’re going to feel like a normal person again. You’re not going to think about checking your blood sugar, giving yourself shots.” I’m at that point now where it’s just kind of your day flows more. I mean of course, there is takes ups like everybody that’s diagnosed with this, they will get there and they will feel normal again. I think that’s my big thing.
Hope: Absolutely, I love that. I love your positivity. You totally match everything that I believe. This is awesome. My last thing for you is do you have a favorite quote that you turn to or kind of like a one sentence you go to keep you going each day?
Angela: I do have a favorite quote. It’s not one sentence. It’s a little long. It’s actually on my Instagram and I think it’s just when you are having a bad day or when you feel defeated, this is the quote I go to. It says, “Forget yesterday, it has already forgotten you. Don’t sweat tomorrow, you haven’t even met yet. Open your eyes and heart today.”
I think that’s such a powerful quote because sometimes we forget to live in the moment. If you had a bad day, we cannot let that define us. You can do that so it’s kind of what I turn to.
Hope: I love that. That is so true. That is a beautiful thing. That’s awesome.
It has been such a pleasure to have you on here. It’s been so awesome. You’re killing it which is awesome. I think that you are the epitome of living beyond diabetes and the message here. I greatly appreciate your time and everything you’ve offered. Do you have any closing word or remarks?
Angela: I just thank you so much for having me and just to let you know, you have honestly help me so much and just a further understanding what I thought I kind of already had a handle on especially with exercise and stuff. I get it so much more because of the resources that you’ve helped everybody and provided everybody with.
Hope: I’m smiling right now. That’s worth everything to me. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and your time. I’m sure that there’s going to be people that are actually getting so much value out of these. I’m so grateful for you to join here and I hope that you have an awesome day.
Angela: You as well.

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, I’d love for you to leave a note in the comment section below!

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The post LBWH 025: Interview with Angela appeared first on Hope Mangiafico | Health and Wellness Strategist.

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