[00:00:00] You are listening to episode number 259 of Better Blood Sugars with Delane, Md. Welcome to Better Blood Sugars with Delane, MD, where you can learn strategies to lower your blood sugars and improve your overall health. I am your host, Doctor Delane Vaughn. Ladies, if you know you're capable of doing badass things at work and for your family, but you're confused and frustrated with why you can't seem to stop eating the chocolate cake, this podcast is for you. Let's talk. Hey there. Welcome to the podcast. I'm glad you're taking some time for you today. Thank you for joining me. So today we are going to continue the discussion about vacations and how to continue to improve your health or even live just a generally healthy life while you're on vacation. So it's the season of vacation. I'm getting ready. Actually, I'm recording this podcast early.
[00:00:57] Usually I'm doing my podcast in the later part of the week, but I'm leaving on vacation this afternoon, so I wanted to get this done so this could be posted for you next week. So it's the season of vacations, and there's a lot of different things that show up different experience while you're on vacation. And learning to navigate that is really important. The recognition that we only have, you know, vacation a few times a year, I think is really important to see because it's hard to practice it. The more we practice something, the better we get at it. The more we think and plan about it, though, the better we're going to be at it. So that's why what most of the strategy is for making your vacation a healthy time. So I want to review, I talked episode number 257. I talked about how to envision your life living healthy and the strategy using this as a tool. And I really think it's very important when you envision what it's going to be like, you can then use that vision as a compass to set you on your path to get you there. It's hard to know how to walk that path if you don't have a clear vision. So setting that vision, using it as a compass is step one. And I talked about that, I think in episode number 257, and then last episode 258, I talked about the tools that are available to help you stay on that path, the tools that are available for you to build that healthy experience.
[00:02:19] So part of this was setting a plan, and part of this planning is learning or deciding how you're going to use the tools. The tools that I talked about were fasting low carb eating, exercise, apple cider vinegar and lemon water. I talked a little bit about how to use that and the information, kind of like, I didn't talk about the studies, but there is definitely literature and evidence supporting that these improve glycemic control. So I talked about that a little bit. I talked about sleep and stress. I do. Today we're going to talk about joy and how to bring joy into your vacation. And I'm going to try to do it without crying. Because even as I was thinking about and prepping for this podcast, I was like getting all teary eyed. But how are we going to bring joy into our vacation and really into our lives? Like, how do we do that? A lot of times we have leaned so heavily on bring on using food to bring all of this feel goodness into our life that we don't know how to do it any other way. When we've done it so much with the food that we are now physically ill with something like type two diabetes, we have to learn another way to do it. And that's really what this is about. How do we learn to have joy in our vacations and in our life in a way that doesn't make us sick with type two diabetes?
[00:03:34] So I do want to touch on stress and sleep and the effect that they have on the blood sugars. As I reviewed the podcast number 258, which was the one right before this, and I went through and I edited it, one, I felt like I didn't point this out enough, but two, I think it kind of goes hand in hand with bringing joy into your vacation. So stress and sleep affect your blood sugars through two, through one primary pathway, and that's cortisol.
[00:04:04] Cortisol rises with stress, and it also, like poor sleep, is a physiologic stressor, so it will also rise with poor sleep. This is why intentionally deciding and planning and impacting your sleep and stress during your vacation is really can be real important tools to improving your blood sugars or seeing stable blood sugars.
[00:04:25] Cortisol is a hormone in the human body. It's released a couple of different ways. There are two primary triggers that release this. One is it releases with our circadian rhythm. All of the humans early every morning release cortisol, and this happens. They call it diurnal. This release of cortisol in the morning, usually sometime between four and 06:00 a.m. i'm sure you can find literature that says it's a little different from that, but it's sometime early in the morning. Your body releases cortisol. This makes sense to me. And if you look at the human animal, biologically, it makes sense. 10,000 years ago, there were not refrigerators and cupboards holding your breakfast, your energy for the day in them, so that you could get up, wake up, and be absolutely, you know, empty of any energy, and go to the cupboard or the fridge. Like 10,000 years ago, that didn't happen. That's a modern experience. There was not a way to pull energy into your body.
[00:05:26] And the way that our human bodies developed to have energy released was we store energy in our liver. We store energy also in our muscles. We also store it in our adipose tissue, but we have stored energy. Cortisol is the trigger that allows that stored energy to be released so that we can have glucose floating around our bloodstream. Glucose is the first part of cellular energy, okay?
[00:05:54] Your body needs cellular energy to start working your brain, having your heart pump more, moving your muscles in the morning, it needs that energy to do those things. Overnight, you were asleep, we weren't doing those things. We didn't need it in the morning. We need to get up and be human beings, and cortisol is the way that we release energy to our bodies to do that before there was a cupboard or a refrigerator, okay? So that circadian trigger of cortisol is one way we release cortisol. The other way we do it is a stress response. So both emotional and physical stress will cause your body to release cortisol. It's not necessarily a bad thing. If we're chronically under stress, then that's something we're going to need to figure out how to rein that in. And that's what stress management is really about. Recognize whether it's the circadian trigger for cortisol or a stress trigger for cortisol. When you're insulin resistant, your blood sugars increase in an exaggerated way. Okay? So you already have a baseline high blood sugar, and then you have this cortisol response early in the morning, for example, and you get more sugar released. And because your cells are insulin resistant, they bring that sugar, that glucose inside and burn it off more slowly, they're resistant to. Doing that is really what it comes down to. So we have a higher concentration of. Of blood sugar in our system, and that means that we have to move. We have to produce more insulin into our bloodstream to bring that blood sugar down. The higher our insulin is, the more insulin resistant we are, and the more insulin resistant we are, the higher our blood sugars are. So this creates kind of this vicious cycle. Okay, a couple of things to consider.
[00:07:47] Being diabetic and insulin resistant is a physiologic stress on your body. So even in the morning, when you're releasing cortisol in that circadian fashion, you're releasing an exaggerated amount of cortisol in that circadian fashion because of the chronic physiologic stress associated with your chronic disease of insulin resistance and diabetes. Okay? So you get more glucose released. You're insulin resistant. So your body has to produce more insulin to bring that glucose inside and burn it off as energy. The higher the insulin level is, the more insulin resistant you are, which keeps you sick, creating more glucose in the morning with that cortisol response. It's really a vicious cycle that we end up in. We have stress. We have cortisol released. It's exaggerated due to our underlying insulin resistance and diabetes. That exaggerated blood sugar response increases our insulin. The insulin, you know, persists our diabetes and our insulin resistance, we really get in the cycle. Breaking the cycle or shutting it down is a multiple prong approach. Okay? So part of it, a lot of it, is making sure that you're eating higher quality foods.
[00:09:02] It's also stress management. It's also improving your sleep. It's also, you know, exercising more. There's a number of different things that really go into breaking that vicious cycle. It's not one thing you're going to do, but do understand, I hope that I have impressed upon you the reason that is so important to manage your stress. And part of managing your stress is getting sleep. And part of it is also exercise, the result of high stress and high insulin. Like, the combination of those things worsens the cause. Like, you know, the stress causes the high insulin, and the high insulin causes the insulin resistance, which means that you're just not able to handle the stress. It gets you in the cycle where the result is causing more of the problem. And so doing everything that you can to improve that is really important. And part of that is stress management. And although vacations can be glorious and wonderful, I'm feeling it right now. Right. I'm leaving here in a few hours to go on vacation. My clothes aren't packed. My kids clothes are. The camping stuff is packed. Recognizing that there can be stress associated even with the good things that are happening and learning ways to manage that stress can be very, very important to improving your blood sugars, and I hope I've emphasized that. So now let's talk about joy. It's much more fun. How do you bring joy into your vacation. And really, this is going to extend and extrapolate out to how do you bring joy into your life? We're not doing it with food anymore, so how do we do it? So the first question is always, what is joy to you? What does, what is joyous to you? What does Joy mean? This is variable based on the human you're speaking to. For me, Joy is a long run on a trail in the woods. I like, I mean, I don't like the ticks, but I'll take them because I. That is truly Joy to me. It's the smell of the pines. It's the smell of the dirt. I enjoy that paddleboarding on the lake with my son. That's Joy for me. The summit of a 14 are in Colorado. That's Joy. I derive Joy from these things.
[00:11:08] Enjoy to others as a movie with a loved one, like just sitting and relaxing in a theater or even at home. It might be a night of hanging out with your friends in their backyard, just sitting and talking. It might be, you know, bellying up to a bar with your buddies and, like, hanging out there having a drink. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe just catching up. Joy means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It takes many different forms to learn to enhance and maximize your joy. You need to figure out what it looks like for you. So you have to start there. If you've used food in the past as a previous form of joy, you're going to have to find different ways to do this and you're going to have to redefine joy.
[00:11:51] I always use the example, ladies, remember this. Like, we are dealing with a bad ex here. If you've had a past relationship that was part of your definition of love, and it turned out that that relationship was a bad relationship, it wasn't great for you. Maybe it made you unhappy, maybe like food, it made you sick, whatever it is. Like, if you have a relationship and it wasn't a great relationship for you, it turned out to be bad and it ended.
[00:12:16] But previously, your definition of love involved that relationship. You have to learn to redefine love.
[00:12:24] If not, you're miserable and never in love ever again for the rest of your life.
[00:12:29] Even if the end of the relationship wasn't your idea, meaning somebody else walked away from the relationship, you still have to learn to redefine love. And the reason I point this out is because a lot of women are like, but I don't want to break up with food. And I get it, but it's making you sick. Like, it's almost like it's like the food has to leave, even though I don't want it to leave. The relationship had to end even though you didn't want it to end. So even when it's not your decision, you still have to learn to redefine love. And in this case, you have to redefine joy. This previous relationship that you've had with food, it's ending. Where food was the primary source of creating joy in your life, that's ending.
[00:13:13] You're changing that about you. So you have to have, in this new relationship with food that you have, just like an ex, you have to. There are going to be parts that you miss about it, about your old relationship, but you have to learn a new way to go on without the old relationship you had with food. Learning to have joy in your life without using food to get you to joy is very, very similar. So I want to encourage you to consider that. So the first thing is to define what joy means to you. And if it's been food, if that's where your brain goes, cool, I want to push you past that. What else is joy for you? And then see where you can find it on your experience in the world, on your vacation. Maybe it's with adventures, like that's where you're gonna find joy. Maybe it's sightseeing. Maybe you're one of those people who like to try things new. I don't think that's me. But lots of people really do enjoy that. I'm not one of them. I mean, I do try things new, but it's gotta be something other. It's not just for the novelty of it. Maybe it's having a deep conversation with ones that you love. Maybe it's road tripping and singing in the car.
[00:14:17] Maybe it's seeing great music, like going somewhere and watching, like, a band. Maybe it's beautiful scenery. Maybe that brings you joy. Maybe it's like getting up early in the morning to see the sunrise because it's beautiful. Or maybe it's staying up late to see the sunset because it's beautiful. Maybe it's this beautiful scenery that really brings you joy. Maybe it's the sun on your skin while you're on a beach. Maybe it's the sound of the ocean. Maybe it's sleeping in late or reading a book or feeling the wind in your hair.
[00:14:48] Where is your joy found?
[00:14:51] Where is there joy to be found in your experience and defining that this is joy and this isn't? If nothing comes to mind, if you can't think of anything like that's going to be joyful in that experience. Then where can you invest some resources to create it? Maybe it's in a manicure or a pedicure. Maybe it's a massage or some other spas treatment. Maybe it's shopping. Maybe it's shopping with your besties. Maybe it's an amusement park. Maybe it's art galleries. Maybe it's some other attraction that you go and see.
[00:15:25] Where can you invest to create some joy on your vacation?
[00:15:31] All of the options I just listed are food lists, which is great.
[00:15:37] But recognize it's totally fine to find joyous through food. There's nothing wrong with that. There's no judgment about that. Don't let anyone tell you there is. There's. If I've ever told you there is, that's a lie. There's nothing wrong with finding joy in food.
[00:15:53] And if you want to solely rely on finding joy in food to the point that you have diabetes, there's nothing wrong with that either. Like, we live, we are graced to live in an age where there's a lot of meds to help us out. That's totally fine. But I think that there is a robustness of finding joy in multiple different sources. Okay.
[00:16:14] Sometimes it does rely on food, and that's okay. Learning to do this in a way that doesn't make you sick is totally possible. And it's a skill that you're going to want to hone if you don't want to be sick with diabetes. So nice restaurants with great food that you don't typically have access to is fabulous. I think that's wonderful. But recognize this is not chicken fingers. Right? There's nothing new about chicken fingers. I have eaten a lot of chicken fingers in my life and there's nothing unique or spectacular about them. They're not bad. They're fine. But there's just nothing fancy about most chicken fingers. So if you're going to a restaurant on vacation and all you see on there is chicken fingers, do not make a concession there. Get the dumpy side. If you're going to have dumpy, boring food, make it dumpy, boring food that isn't going to make you sick. Okay? Don't make the concession there. It's probably not french fries. There's very few things that are earth shattering about french fries. It's probably not a soda. A soda that you can get anywhere. You can get a doctor pepper or Pepsi or a coke anywhere in the world. And certainly if you're living in America, anywhere in this country. It's not road trip candies. There's nothing special about twizzlers. It's not potato chips. You can get them on any corner. It's not a bud light. They're also available everywhere. There's nothing about these foods that are unique or spectacular. If you're going to a nice restaurant that's had food, that has food available to you that you've not had, that's one thing. Don't make a concession and sell your health, sell your soul for these foods that you can get anywhere. Okay. Breads are kind of similar, although some breads can be spectacular, right? So recognize some foods will be worth trying. They might be a unique experience, but then even in that situation, you only need a small amount to see that they're amazing.
[00:18:08] If it's a fancy bread at a fancy restaurant and you want to try it, great. Try a bite. You don't need to eat three loaves, even if they are small loaves. Try a bite. Make sure you have butter on it because that sounds amazing.
[00:18:22] If there are french fries and you're like, I think those are spectacular french fries. Those are not like the ones that I eat or I've had before. Great. Try two or three. You don't need a bag full of them.
[00:18:35] If it's a dessert, I'm one of those. I'm a sucker for a good dessert. Try it. You only need one or two bites, though, to see if it's truly amazing.
[00:18:44] A beer. Like if somebody gets a beer and you're like, that sounds good. See if they'll let you have a sip. Let me tell you something else about fancy beer. They'll give you tasters. I'd rather pay dollar two for a taster that I'm going to have just a taste of than $6 for a beer. I'm going to have two drinks of. But I want the taste of the beer because I do like beer.
[00:19:03] Pasta dishes. Have a couple bites of the pasta, eat the sauce, eat the meat. Breakfast pastries, ladies. It's possible to have two bites of a donut. I promise you it is. Donuts can be spectacular. You know how I feel about donuts. I think they're amazing. I wish donuts today were available when I was a kid and I would eat them endlessly. Whoever thought to put a Twix bar on a donut? That's brilliant. They are. They can be spectacular. You don't need to eat the whole thing, okay. Two or three bites usually will get you everything spectacular. You're looking for and that unique, amazing food that you want to experience. There's nothing wrong, ladies, with experiencing joy from food, selling your soul and your health because you want that joy is probably not what you're interested in doing. And it is possible to find a way to do that different.
[00:19:49] So what other joys, what other ways do you want to create joy and find joy on your vacation?
[00:19:57] I'll share with you my personal example. Me and my kids, we're driving out. We're going to the mountains. My kids and I do this thing where we, we literally have a playlist. I know the playlist. I will play the playlist and we will sing it and it's totally obnoxious. And some of my most precious memories with them are from that playlist.
[00:20:18] My daughter, her and I'll cuddle a lot. She's such a sweet kid. Such a cuddler. In two years, she leaves me to go be an adult somewhere. So we're going to spend time together. We're going to cuddle, we're going to shop. We're going to go to art museums. Because she loves that.
[00:20:33] My son and I, we're going to climb, we're going to fish. We've got it all planned out. His twin sister, she doesn't dig this. So he and I, and we do this. She'll stay back with my folks. He and I are going to talk about life. We're going to talk about what adulting will look like for him. We're going to talk about his dreams. We're going to breathe fresh mountain air. I'm going to teach him the little that I know about fishing. Fingers crossed. We like. We'll summit a mountain together and reach one of the highest spots in Colorado and see the world from that spot. We're going to camp under the stars. We're going to do our best to not get eaten by bears and mountain lions. My parents are coming. They're going to stay up late with us. We're going to play games and cards. We're going to have dinner together. I'm going to get to see my babies building this amazing relationship with my folks, which I love to watch.
[00:21:20] My mom and dad and I are going to reminisce on memories that we've had from my childhood and growing up. Hopefully I'll continue to glean wisdom from them late into the night because that's what we do on vacation.
[00:21:32] My bestie from residency is coming up to meet me. Her and I are going to catch up late into the night. I have no idea. You know, late to the night. The joke is I'll stay up till 915, but we're going to talk. We're going to catch up. We're going to relax together.
[00:21:46] We're going to go get massages. We're going to spend an afternoon shopping. We're going to probably spend it at the local spa. We're going to do things together, and we're going to catch up and reconnect. And it's going to be the most amazing thing. Will there be food on my vacation? Surely there will be. Absolutely. There's no doubt there will be. I will eat. There will likely be wine and a little bit of beer, maybe both. I don't know. Like that will happen also. But then I think of the things that really, really touch my soul.
[00:22:13] It's not the food and it's not the drink.
[00:22:16] It's the joy in being present with the people that I love and having the experiences with them. That's what's important to me. For me, that's joy. I want to encourage you to find yours. Also, if you're having problems envisioning this and even imagining what this look looks like, this is the work.
[00:22:36] This is the important stuff that I do in my group with my clients. It's not that you need to stop eating chocolate cake. You know that that is not the important work. The important work that I do is in helping women leave that relationship with food that's made them sick behind and build a new life based on something else. And this work that we're talking about today, that's part of that. If that's something you're needing help with or wanting more information on, go to my website, delanemd.com. there is an option to contact me there. You can always send me an email.
[email protected] dot I'm happy to answer anything. We can talk about what that would look like.
[00:23:12] I want to warn you, if you have been medicated for your diabetes, you have been medicated because of the way you've eaten in the past. If you change the way you eat, if you implement the things that I suggest in these podcast episodes, you're going to need to change your meds. Also, if you don't, you can end up quite sick. The kind of sick that looks like a hospitalization, er visits, possibly even death. We're not interested in that. So make sure you're being very careful. What I mean by being careful is that you contact your physician, the provider that gave you these meds. Contact them. Let them know you're gonna make some dietary changes. Find out how they want you to share your blood sugar logs with them, and then find out from them how they intend to share medication changes with you. Get very clear on what you can expect so that you don't get sick. Okay? Get a good line of communication open with your provider so you can be very careful as you do this if you're not sure what you need to be eating. I have created a 14 day workbook. It's 14 days to better blood sugars. You can find
[email protected] forward slash better. B as in boy. E t t e r. It's 14 days. It's very powerful. Again, make sure you've contacted your provider so that you can get clear information about how to change your meds if you need to do that, and you can be safe.
[00:24:29] Lastly, I have an ask if you are enjoying this podcast, if you are getting good results from this podcast, if you're benefiting from this podcast, recognize that nine out of ten Americans have insulin resistance. If they are not already diabetic, they're on their way.
[00:24:46] Please share this podcast. Share it on your social media like the podcast rate, and review the podcast on the podcast player. Share this with people. The more people that hear about this, the more people realize they do not need to be tied to the healthcare system for the rest of their life. They do not need to be medicated. They do not need to be sick. It is possible to live a healthy life.
[00:25:06] I want to encourage you to keep listening. Keep avoiding the foods that make you sick. Keep making the choices for your health, your vitality, and your longevity. I'll be back next week. Bye.
